
Book 0^1^ 



33 Natural Wealth of California, 

conipi'ising early history and detailed 
description of each county, its topo- 
graphy, scenery, cities and towns, etc. 
I etc., by Titus Fey Oronise. Royal 8vo, 
'^- cloth. $2x66. 1868. '<: 






cjfLlAtJy /S/^f 



THE NATUEAL WEALTH OE CALIEOEmA. 



THE 



NATURAL WEALTH 



CALIFORNIA 



OOMPEISISO 

EAIU.Y HISTORY ; QEOORiPHT, TOPOaBAPHT, AND SOBNEET ; CLIMATE ; ASRIOULTURE AND OOMMEROIAI,, 
PRODUCTS ; GEOLOGT, ZOOLOGY, AND BOTANY ; MINERALOGY, MINES, AND MINING PRO- i 

CESSES; MANUFACTURES; STEAMSHIP LINES, RAILROADS, AND COMMERCE; 
IMMIGRATION, POPULATION AND SOCIETY; EDUCATIONAL IN- 
STITUTIONS AND LITERATURE; TOGETHER WITH 

A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EACH COUNTY ; 

ITS TOPOGRAPHY, SCENERY, CITIES AND TOWNS, AGRICULTURAL 

ADVANTAGES, MINERAL RESOURCES, AKD 

VARIED PRODUCTIONS. 



TITUS FEY CRONISE. 



SAN FEANOISCO: 
H. H. BANCROFT & COMPANY. 

NEW YORK: 113 WILLIAM STREET. 
1868. 



Entered according to Act of Congiess, in the year 180B, 

Bt TITUS FEY CEOOTSE, 

In tho Clerk's Office of tlio District Court of the United States, for the 

District of California. 



'1^ J S3 



Stebeottped at the CiiiFOEiaA Ttpb ForJ^•l>Il^, 

From Type manufactured by 'W'm. Faulenee & Son, 
411 Clay Street, Saa FrancUco^ 






INTRODUCTORY. 



The Publishers present this work as the most recent, comprehensiTe, and 
elaborate treatise upon the history, geography, geology, natural history, cli- 
mate, population, wealth, industry, products, and resources of California. 
Unusual pains have been taken to insure its acceptance as a work not alone 
of passing interest, but as a standard authority on all the subjects it em- 
braces. 

There is a strong demand for such an authority, both for the purposes of 
local information and reference, and for citation and general use abroad, 
where, for many reasons, much attention has recently been attracted to our 
State. The successful establishment of mail steam communication with 
Japan and China ; the acquisition of Alaska ; the near completion of the 
Pacific railroad ; the remarkable increase of our agricultural products and 
exports, enabling California to compete profitably with the foremost wheat 
countries in the markets of Europe, are circumstances that have, within the 
past twelve months, caused more particular inquiry to be made concerning 
the State than ever before. It is no longer looked upon as the isolated 
abode of a nomadic and somewhat lawless community, absorbed mainly in 
gold seeking, and generally indifferent to the healthy pursuits and noble 
concerns of life — but as a well-ordered commonwealth, prolific ia natural 
resoinrces and capacities beyond all its sisters ; favored by a delightful cli- 
mate ; advancing in substantial prosperity ; attesting the fertility of its soil 
by a wheat crop approximating in value its yield of gold ; and rivaling two 
zones in the variety of its other products. It is seen to be the nucleus of a 
great empire on the Pacific, already adjoined by States and Territories of 
remarkable characteristics, and laying a train of causes that will some day 
shift the currents of commercial and monetai-y exchange. 



VI INTEODUCTOnY. 

Hence it is desirable to collate in one volume a reliable statement of tbo 
salient facts concerning a region of so much interest ; to make such a com- 
pilation as mil serve as a magazine for the use of aU who have occasion to 
■write or speak about California, and which, when drawn upon by journalists 
abroad for popular articles, will disseminate correct information and ideas 
where these are most needed and will have the most beneficial effect 
"While this work has been prepared in a spirit of natural pride, everything 
like exaggeration has been guarded against. The material facts are set 
forth -mth plain speech, and often with statistical brevity — the reader being 
left, in most cases, to draw his own conclusions. The grand aim has been 
to give full and correct information — not to argue or commend. 

Those who are most anxious for the rapid peopling and development of 
the State should desire no more than the accomf)lishment of this aim, which 
must supply the most effective of all arguments — those derived from the 
irrefutable logic of facts. 

In pursuance of the ideas above set forth, the author has drawn upon 
every reliable source of information ; has emjjloyed the best ability in origi- 
nal researches, and has collated a large amount of valuable matter not before 
printed. The whole material in the book, which embraces over 700 imperial 
octavo pages, has been gathered and written within a year — much of it 
within a few weeks of publication ; so that the very latest official and other 
data have been availed of to make each department as fresh and complete as 
possible. The author has been assisted by a corps of specially qualified 
gentlemen, who have established reputations as statisticians, scientists, and 
writers on subjects of practical and economical interest, and most of whom 
have brought to this work the best resiilts of years of experience and obser- 
vation. 

The division of the work comprises a variety of subjects, some of which 
may be mentioned here to afford an idea of the scope of the book : History, 
70 pages ; Geography, 20 pages ; Description and Statistics of the Counties, 
separately, 237 ; Climate, 21 ; Agriculture, 43; Geology, 37 ; Zoology, 67 ; 
Flora, 27; Mining and Metalliu-gical Processes, 34; Mines and Mining, 34 ; 
Manufactures, 47; San Francisco, 23. Among the miscellaneous topics 
treated are the following : Immigration ; Population ; Literatiu-e ; Educa- 
tional Matters ; EaUroads ; Petroleum ; Shipbuilding ; Telegraphs ; City 
aud County Finances ; U. S. Branch IMint, etc. 

A very brief review of the more strildng facts referring to California 



INTRODUCTOEY. Yli 

will he enough to satisfy those who may wonder at such an expenditiu-e 
of literary labor upon our State, that it is entirely justified. 

California's seven hundred miles of length, by about two hundred of 
width, embraces the same nine degrees of latitude which, on the Atlantic 
side of the continent, include the extensive and populous country stretching 
from Charleston, S. C, to Plymouth, Mass., a region occupied by portions 
of ten or twelve States. "Within these limits, is an area of nearly 160,000 
square miles — greater tlian the combined area of New England, New York, 
and Pennsylvania, or that of Great Britain and Ireland, with several minor 
German States thrown in. The outline of this great State on the map resem- 
bles that of an oblong trough, the Coast Range on the westward, or ocean 
side, and the Sierra Nevada on the east, with their interlocking extremities 
forming the rim, and enclosing a series of level valleys remarkable for their 
fertility, once basins of water, salt or fresh, now filled with the washings of 
uncounted years, but still subject to occasional partial floods. The mountain 
walls themselves are broken into innumerable smaller valleys, level like the 
others, those in the Coast Eange being the largest and loveliest, and only 
slightly elevated above the ocean, those of the Sierra Nevada, and especially 
at the sources of its streams, and between its crest of double summits, 
attaining an elevation of from 3,000 to 7,000 feet, and enclosing charming 
lakes. 

Although this State reaches to the latitude of Plymouth bay on the 
north, the climate, for its whole length, is as mild as that of the regions 
near the tropics ; half the months are rainless ; snow and ice are almost 
strangers, except in the high altitudes ; there are fully 200 cloudless days, 
every year ; roses bloom in the open air of the valleys through all seasons ; 
the grape grows at an altitude of 3,000 feet with Mediterranean luxuriance ; 
the orange, the fig, and the olive flourish as in their native climes; yet, 
there is enough variety of climate and soil to include all the products of 
the northern temperate zone, with those of a semi-tropical character. The 
great valleys of the interior yield an average of 20 to 35 bushels of wheat 
per acre ; crops of 60 bushels are not uncommon, while as high as 80 bushels 
have been known on virgin soil under the most favorable circumstances. 
The farmer loses less time here than in any other portion of the United 
States, or in any country of Europe. 

It is remarkable that with these genial characteristics blends some of 
the gTandest moimtain scenery in the world. The Sierra Nevada contains 



Vlll BTTEODUCTORT. 

the highest peaks known in North America. In its northern portion stands 
Mount Shasta, 14,440 feet high, and towering seven thoiisand feet above all 
surrounding peaks. In its southern portion, however, where the main chain 
attains its greatest general height, Mount Whitney rises about 15,000 feet, 
and is surrounded by a close congregation of 100 peaks, which are all above 
13,000 feet, while the embracing region, for 300 square miles, has an eleva- 
tion of 8,000 feet Beside these figures the Alps become inferior. The 
Yosemite gorge has a world-wide celebiity for its granite walls, which rise 
perpendicularly as high as 4,400 feet, and over which tumble river currents 
that break in foam on the blue air, or sway in the breeze like veils of lace. 
In this splendid range occirr those gold deposits, the most extensive ever 
known, which have yielded in twenty years $850,000,000, and are still yield- 
ing over 37 per cent, of the whole annual gold product of the world, or 10 
per cent, more than Australia. In this range, or its offshoots, are also found 
mines of silver, copper, iron and coal, with smaller quantities of numerous 
other metals and minerals. Here are also the finest coniferous forests of 
America, including several groves of the largest and oldest trees in the 
world. More than all this, a large portion of the Sierra Nevada, rugged as 
it might seem to be from this description, is well adapted to cultivation and 
settlement ; its lower ridges, its depressions and foot-hills, having a produc- 
tive soil, and being accessible by good wagon roads, in some places by rail- 
roads already built or projected, while the mining communities furnish 
good markets. Agriculture in the mountain districts is becoming a striking 
feature of the industry of the State, and it is believed that for gi-ape and 
fruit raising the high lands will hereafter be generally preferred. Many of 
these remarks are also true of the Coast Range, where mountains 3,000 feet 
high are often clothed to their stmimits with a thick growth of wild oats, 
which furnish excellent pasture and hay ; where the valleys are rich and 
picturesque, and where quicksilver, salt, sulphur, borax, and splendid red- 
wood timber are found in abundance. 

"When such facts as the foregoing are recalled, it would seem strange that 
California hardly increased its population for many years, if we did not 
reflect how remote and isolated it has been from the great hives of the 
East, how little has been knovTn abroad about its best qualities, and how 
fatal were the early vagabond mining methods and habits to pei-manent 
prosperity. Yet, for a community never exceeding from 400,000 to 500,000, 
all told, scattered over an area large enough to support 30,000,000, and 



INTEODUCTOEY. , IX 

beginning twenty years ago with but a handful of Caucasians, California has 
accomplished a great deal. If its gold product has fallen from $05,000,000 
per annum to $25,000,000, its agricultural products have increased to an 
amount equal to half the largest gold yield ever known. The wheat crop 
alone, for 1867, was worth nearly as much as the gold, and the surplus of this 
staple freighted 223 ships, and reached a value of $13,000,000; while the total 
exports of home products, including about fifty different articles for which 
the State was formerly dependent on other lands, was about $17,000,000. 
The \dntage of 1867 exceeded 3,500,000 gallons of wine and 400,000 gal- 
lons of brandy, the number of vines now growing in the State being about 
25,000,000. The wool clip was 9,500,000 pounds, showing a gain of more 
than thirty per cent, over 1866. Silk, tobacco, hops, flax and cotton may now 
be ranked among the minor products that promise to be hereafter sources of 
profit A silk factory and a sugar-beet factory are two of the new indus- 
tries being established. The manufactures of the State are already esti- 
mated at $30,000,000 per annum. The best mining machinery in the Union 
is made here. The assessed value of real and personal property increased 
in 1867 about $21,000,000, running up the total taxable values of the State 
to some $221,000,000, and showing a gain of twenty per cent, in two years, 
the most prosperous years ever experienced in the State. It may be said 
that the genuine prosperity of California is only just begun. So long as a 
greater part of its population was engaged in siu-face mining there was little 
substantial gain, either materially or morally. The transition period to more 
regular and diversified industry was one of trial and discouragement; but it 
is nearly over, and on every hand may be seen the signs of improvement, 
in commerce, manufactures, agriculture and society. Mining itself is becom- 
ing a fixed pursuit, regulated by science, skill, and capital. One thu-d of 
our gold product is now obtained from quartz veins worked by machinery, 
and this proportion is steadily increasing. Eailroads are rapidly multiply- 
ing in the State. Within twelve months San Francisco will be connected by 
rail with all the principal towns of the interior, at distances from 50 to 200 
miles, north, south or east, and with the Great Basin of Nevada and Utah, 
by the Pacific railroad. Telegraph lines ramify from the metropolis to all 
parts of the interior, connecting with British Columbia and every State in 
the Union. 

The running of two lines of steamships to Panama, and others to Mexico, 
British Columbia, Alaska, the Sandwich Islands, Japan and China, has 



X IXTRODCCTOEY. 

greatly increased our commerce and quickened immigration. A sound me- 
tallic banking system is in secure operation. 

The State funds for educational purposes now aggregate nearly 
$1,000,000, and the interest upon this, -vvith the aid of school taxes, supports 
an admirable system of free instruction. The means and the measures are 
ready for establishing a State University on a broad and permanent basis. 
The penal and benevolent institutions maintained by the State have been 
improved considerably, the latter, especially, being quite creditable, and 
including provision for the insane, the deaf and dumb and blind, the 
orphaned, and the youthful vsrecks of society. Besides these, there are 
numerous and varied local establishments in San Francisco, which minister 
to the miseries and wants of the entire State with impartial charity. 

The fixture of California is very bright, and those who have been faithful 
to her through nineteen or twenty years of remarkable vicissitudes and hard- 
ships, may well rejoice in the prospect. Tet, there are some evils and dis- 
advantages which need to be frankly considered. Habits of lavish expen- 
diture, lack of repose in social manners, recklessness in business, undue 
haste to be rich, want of restraint over the young, too great indifference to 
the solid essentials of character in public and private, a hard materialism ; 
these are traits which Californians, with all their spasmodic, though hearty 
generosity, exhibit too frequently. This criticism is less applicable to all 
the larger centers of population, however, than it would have been a few 
years ago. The growth of the family influence and of the sentiment of 
attachment to the State, has been quite rapid. Society is crystallizing into 
perfect forms ; homes have multiplied ; domestic pleasures and moral 
restraints are generally more powerful than frontier vices, and the most 
intelligent travelers concede that for pleasantness of home surroundings, 
and regard for all the ordinary sanctities of law and religion, society ia the 
poptdous centers of California compares favorably with that at the East, 
whQe it has undoubtedly escaped the worst effects of protracted war and 
financial disturbance. Such asperities as remain here and there will be 
toned down by the lapse of time, the concentration of a more stable popu- 
lation in the mining districts, the homogeneousness that wUl come with a 
larger native infusion ; but it is worth while to try and subdue them earlier, 
and to cidtivate even more assiduously than we do the quiet domestic traits 
that make the beauty and the sweetness of Home. 

A difiSculty of another kind is found in the uncertain tenure of real estate, 



DJTEODUCTORT. xi 

and the tendency to retain land in large tracts. This, however, is less appa- 
rent than it was a few years ago. Nearly all the Spanish titles have been 
finally adjudicated, and fair progress is making in settling the many vexa- 
tious disputes as to the large tracts of land granted by the United States 
Government, which the State authorities too hastily and carelessly put 
into market. Large bodies of land are comiug into possession of railroad 
companies ; but under the regulations adopted by Congress, these cannot be 
withheld from occupation, even if it were not to the interest of the grantees 
to sell them. Many holders of Spanish grants, which embrace some of the 
. most extensive and fertile districts, could greatly benefit the State, and 
themselves, by dividing these estates into small farms and selling them to 
actual settlers at a fair price. It will be a grand day for California when 
the word " ranch," like the idea and system it represents, has only a histor- 
ical meaning, and when small farms, well tUled, dot the lovely plains now 
abandoned to herds of cattle. The floods and di-oughts of 1862, '63 and 
'64, compelled many ranch owners to adopt the sensible poHcy above recorQ- 
mended ; and if all would do so to the extent of offeiiag haK or two thirds 
of their property in alternate lots, they would grow wealthy on the remain- 
der, and help to enrich the State. 

In conclusion, the publishers of the Natural Wealth of California sub- 
mit it to the public with the earnest wish that its chief aim, which is to 
help California in the direction of a substantial and healthy progress, may 
be fully realized. 

The author desires to make especial acknowledgment to J. G. Cooper, 
M. D. , of the State Geological Survey; to Heniy Gibbons, M. D. ,- and to 
Mr. J. S. Silver, for valuable assistance rendered by them in the several 
departments of Zoologj^ Climate, and Agriculture. 

Prof. B. SilHman, Dr. Louis Lanszweert, Messrs. Henry DeGroot, Mon- 
roe Thomson, T. A. Blake, "W. A. Goodyear, F. BretHarte, and Wm. Henry 
Knight, have also aided in the preparation of material for this volume, and 
the author's thanks are due to these gentlemen for the efficient manner in 
which their duties have been performed. 
San Feancisco, March 31, 1SG8. 



CONTENTS. 



OHAPTEE I. 

EAEIiT HISTOET. 

Introductioii — Origin of the Name — By 'Wliom Discovered — ^The Changes in its Boundaries 
— ^The Missions — Their Beginning and End— The Aborigines of Califorma — The Early 
Settlers — Commerce of California while under Spanish and Mexican Bule — The Acqui- 
sition of Cahfomia by the United States. . Page 1 

OHAPTEE II. 

GEOGKAPHT AND TOPOaBAPHT. 

Outline of Geography — ^The Harbors of CaUfomia — San Francisco Bay — ^Tidal Influences — 

San Diego Harbor — San Pedro Bay — The Santa Barbara Channel — San Luis Obispo 

Bay — Monterey Bay — Santa Cruz Harbor — Half Moon Bay — Drake's Bay — ^Tomales 

Bay — Bodega Bay — ^Humboldt Bay — Trinidad Bay — Crescent City Harbor — Improve- 

. ments to be Made — Islands on the Coast. ....... 71 

CHAPTER III. 

THE OOUNTIBS OP CAIiIFOENIA. 

Southern, Coast, Northern, Mountain and Valley Counties. Southern Counties: San Diego 
— San Bernardino — Los Angeles — Santa Barbara — San Luis Obispo — ^Kerru Coa^ Coun- 
ties; Monterey — Santa Cruz — Santa Clara — San Mateo — San Francisco — Alameda — 
Contra Costa — Marin — Sonoma — Napa — Lake — ^Mendocino. Northern Counties: Hum- 
boldt — Trinity — Klamath — Del Norte — Siskiyou — Shasta — Lassen. Mountain Counties : 
Plumas — Sierra — Nevada^Placer — ^El Dorado — ^Amador — ^Alpine — Calaveras — ^Tuol- 
umne — ^Mariposa— Mono — Inyo. Valley Counties: Tehama — ^Butte — Colusa — Sutter — 
Yuba — ^Yolo — Solano — Sacramento — San Joaquin — Stanislaus — Merced — ^Fresno — Tu- 
lara 92 

OHAPTEE IV. 

CLIMATE, 

General Eemarks — Temperature — ^Extremes of Heat and Cold — ^Winds — The Sea Breeze — 
Northers — Southeasters — Kains — Storms — Cloud and Mist^Snow and Hail — Thunder 
and Lightning — Kelations of CUmate to Agriculture and other Pursuits— Health, Do- 
mestic Economy, etc ' . 330 



XIV \ CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

AGBICtlLTUEE. 

AGMCULTtJEE. Preliminary Observations. The Cereals : 'WTieat, Barley, Oats, Eice, etc. 
Grasses: Alfalfa, Clover, etc. Cotton— Flax— The Sugar Beet— Melon Sugar— Hops — 
Tobacco— Mustard Seed— The Amole, or Soap Plant— The Tea Plant. Fruits and Nuts: 
Apples — Pears — Peaches — Plums— Cherries— Oranges— Lemons— Limes— Bananas — 
Oiives— Almonds— Chestnuts, etc. Berries: Strawberries— Raspberries — Blackberries. 
Dried Fruits : Kaisins— Currants — Prunes— Figs, etc. Pickles, Preserved Fruits and 
Vegetables: Orange Marmalade — Quince Jelly — Onions, etc. Potatoes— Large Growths. 
Dairy Products : Butter — Cheese. Cattle and Horses— Sheep and Wool — Hogs — Bees 
and Honey — Insects. 'Wood Planting : Transplanting Trees — The Sirocco. Agricul- 
tural Implements : Steam, Ploughs — The California Land Dresser. Irrigation— Under 
Draining — Famine Years — Late Kains — The Farmer's Troubles in California — Hints 
to Emigrants — Contrasts — Advantages — The Chinese in California — Farm Labor — Har- 
mony among Producers. ViNicui,TtnBE. Grapes— Wine — Brandy — Wine Merchants, etc. 
Silk Cultube. Mulberry Trees — Cocoons — Diseases of Silk Worms, etc. Page 352 



CHAPTEE VI. 

GEOLOGY. 

General Outlines of Topography — Geology of Coast Eanges— Monte Diablo Pange— Coal 
Beds— Peninsula of San Francisco — North of San Francisco Bay — South of Monterey 
Bay— Southern End of Tulare Valley — Geology of the Sierra Nevada— The Great Auri- 
ferous Belt — Southern portion of the Gold Field— Mariposa County — The Fremont Grant 
— Mining— Tuolumne County — Table Mountains— Fossil Eemains — Calaveras County — 
Union Copper Mine — Gold Mining— Amador County — El Dorado County — Placer County 
Nevada County — Sierra County — Plumas Comity 396 



CHAPTER VIL 

ZOOLOGT. 

General Plan. Mammaua : Bears — Eaccoon- -Skunks — Glutton — Fisher — Marten — Weasel 
Otter — Cougar — Jaguar — Ocelot — Wild Cats — Wolf — Coyote — Foxes— Sea Lions and 
Seals — Sea Elephant— Shrews— Bats — Beaver — Marmots— Squirrels — Eats — Gophers^ 
Porcupine — Hares— Elk — Deer — Antelope — Bighorn — Whales and Porpoises. Bibds: 
Paysano — Cuckoo — ^Woodpeckers — Eagles — Hawks — Owls— Vultures — Crows— Magpies 
Jays — Kingfishers — Flycatchers — Nighthawks— Humming Birds— Swallows— Waxwings 
Thrushes— Mocking Birds — Grosbeaks — Linnets— Goldfinches — Sparrows — Pigeons — 
Doves— Cranes— Herons— Ibis— Plover — Snipe— Curlews— Quail — Swans— Geese— Brant 
Ducks — Pelicans — Cormorants — Albatross — Fulmars — Petrels— GuUs— Loons — Grebes 
— Sea Parrot — Sea Pigeon — Murre. Eeptiles : Tortoise— Turtles — Lizards— Iguana — 
Horned Toads— Glass Snake — Eattlesnakes — Harmless Snakes— Frogs, etc., — Salaman- 
ders— Four-legged Fish. Fishes : Perch — Kingfish — Bass — Moonfish — Goldfish — Vivi- 
parous Fish — Eedfish — Kelpfish — Mackerel — Bonito — Albicore — Barracouta— Flying 
Fish— PantherFish— Sticklebacks— Eock-Cod—Sculpiu— Wolf-Eel— Gobies— Toad Fish 
—Lump Fish-Flat Fish— Halibut— Turbot— Sole— Cod— Whiting--Codling— Tom-Cod 
— Snake Fish — Salmon Trout— White Fish — Smelts — Killies — Herring — Ancfiovies — 
Chubs — Suckers — Conger-Eel — ^Balloon Fish — Sea Horse — Pipe Fish — Sturgeons — Bays 
— Sharks — Torpedo — Angel Fish — Stingrays — Lampreys — ^Worm Fish. MoixuscA : 
Oysters — Clams — ^Date Fish — Mussels. Cecstacea : Crabs — Lobster — Shrimps — Craw- 
fish. 431 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTEE Vlil. 

PLOEA. 

General Eemarks— Sequoia — The Mammotli or Big Trees— Kedwood — California Pines — 
Oaks — Cedars — Firs — California Nutmeg — California Yew Tree — Laurel — Manzanita — 
Madrona — Horse Chestnut^ or Buckeye— Shrubs and Plants— Poison Oak — Alder — Bar- 
terry — Canchalagua — Pitcher Plant — Yerba Buena — Flaxworts — Flea-bane — Soap Plant 
Grasses — Catalogue of Native Trees of California Page 502 

CHAPTEE IX. 

srmiNa and metalltjegicaij pkocesses. 

Gold — ^Placer Mining — The ShaUoTV Placers — Kiver Mining — The Deep Placers — Tunnel 
Mining — Hydraulic Mining — Blue Gravel — The Great Blue Lead — ^White Cement — 
Quartz, or Vein Mining — ^Mining Operations — Milling Machinery and Processes — The 
Grass Valley System of Amalgamation — Amalgamation in Battery — The Mariposa 
Process — Concentration — Plattner's Chlorination Process. .... 529 

CHAPTEE X. 

MINES AND MINrN-O. 

Eapid Exploration of the Placers — Overestimate of Earnings — Chances Still Good — Im- 
proved Conditions — Northwestern Counties — Character of Mines — Gold Beaches, etc.- - 
The Central Districts — Various Branches of Placer Mining — Quartz Mining — Number 
of Locations — Early Efforts — ^Present Kesults — Mining at Grass Valley — A Eepresenta^ 
tive Mine — Butte, Sierra, and Plumas Counties — Gold Bearing Slates and Gossans — 
Auriferous Cement and Gravel Beds — Openings for Enterprise, Labor, and Capital — 
Silver — IJron — Quicksilver — The New Almaden Mine — Mineralogy. . . . 562 

CHAPTEE XI. 

MANITPACTURES. 

Introductory Eemarks. Woolen Mills : The Pioneer Mills — ^Mission Mills — ^Pacific Mills— 
MarysviUeMiUs. Cotton Manufactures — Fleming Mills— Sugar Eefineries. Iron Works: 
The Pacific EoUing Mills — Union Iron Works — Miners' Foundry, etc. — Boiler Works. 
Brass Foundries — Saw Mills and Lumber — Wire and Eope Works — The Pacific Cordage 
Factory — Tanneries — Powder Works — Fuse Factory— Paper Mills— Glass Works — ^Man- 
ufacture of Salt — Soap Factories — Candle Factories — Glue Factory — Chemical and Acid 
Factories — Matches — Oil Works — Eice Mills — Lime and Cement — Lead Works — Marble 
Works and Quarries — Potteries — Boots and Shoes — Saddlery and Harness — Wagons, 
Carriages, Cars, Agricultural Implements, etc. — ^Furniture — Matting — Pianos, Organs, 
Billiard Tables — Breweries and Distilleries — ^Brooms, and Broom Corn — ^Wood and Wil- 
low Ware — CaUfomia Type Foundry — Cigar Manufactories — Manufacture of Clothing, 
Shirts, etc. — Furs — Meat Packing and Curing — Dried and Preserved Fruits and Vege- ■ 
tables, etc. — ^Bliscellaneous Manufactures — ^Works Projected or in Progress. , 596 

CHAPTEE XII. 

CITY AND COUNTY OP SAN PEANCISCO. 

Situation, Topography, etc. — Early Settlement and Subsequent Progress — Street Grades, 
Public Grounds, etc. — Improvement of Water Front — Style and Peculiarities of Build- 
ings — Fear of Earthquakes, and its Effects — Churches, and Places of Pubho Worship — 



Theatres, aud other Places of Amusement— Scientific, Social, Literory, and Eleomony- 
narj' Institutions — Number of Inhabitants — Diversity of Kaces, Ideas and Customs — 
Juvenile Population— Slanufacturing Status, etc.— Educational System— Public Schools, 
Colleges, Seminaries and Private Institutions of Learning- Value of City Property- 
Municipal Income, Debt and Expenditures — Buildings, Improvements, etc. — PoUce and 
Fire Departments — Cemeteries, Public Gardens, Homestead Associations — City Kail- 
roads — Gas Works and Water Works — Markets — Banking Institutions and Insurance 
Companies— United States Branch Mint— Advantages of Po.^tion- Foreign Commerce 
and Domestic Trade — Bullion Products — Passenger jVn-ivals, etc. . . Page 644 

CHAPTEE XIII. 

jnSCEIiLANEOUS SUBJECTS. 

Eailroads— Central Pacific Eailroad— Western Pacific EaUroad— San Jos^ Kailroad— Sacra- 
mento Valley Eailroad— Placerville and Sacramento Valley Kailroad — California Cen- 
tral Eailroad— Yuba Eailroad— Northern California Eailroad— Various Short Eailroads 
—Eailroads Eecently Commenced — Eailroads Projected — Steamship Lines — Ship Build- 
ing—Telegraphs—State and County Finances— Gold Product — Fisheries — Immigratiou 
— Population — Voters — Kaces, etc. — Chinese in California — Libraries — Literature, 
Journalism, etc. — List of California Publications GG8 



THE 



MTUEAL WEALTE OF CALIFORIHA. 



CHAPTER I. 

EAELT HISTOBT. 

Introduction — Origin of the Name— By "Whom Discovered— The Changes in its Boundaries 
— The Missions— their Beginning and End— The Aborigines of California — The Early 
Settlers — Commerce of California while under Spanish and Mexican Bule — The Acqui- 
sition of CaJifomia by the United States. 

This book, being more particularly intended as an exhibit of the 
natural -wealth of the State of California, makes no pretensions to 
being a history of the Pacific Coast ; but the two subjects are so inti- 
mately blended, that it is not possible to write about one without 
referring to the other. The limits of the portion of the work pro- 
posed to be devoted to the historical branch of the subject, compel us 
to confine ourselves, as much as possible, to facts and events connected 
with that portion of the coast embraced within the boundaries of this 
State — a somewhat difficult task, as, until a comparaiively recent 
period, the whole country, from the boundaries of South America^ to 
the late Eussian possessions on the north, and from the Ocean to the 
Bocky Mountains, was included in California. 

• OEIGIN OF THE NAME. 

There are few countries, the origin of the name of which is involved- 
in as much mystery as that of California. A compound of Greek and 
Latin, it is not positively known by whom or when compounded ; nor 
the reason why, although many profound scholars in Europe and in the- 



2 THE NATUKAL WEALTH OF C.VLIFOBNLV. 

United States have endeavored, during the past century, to trace its 
origin. It is first met with in a once popular, but now almost for- 
gotten romance, entitled "The Sergas of Esplandian, the son of 
Amadis, of Gaul, " published at Seville, (Spain), in 1510, in which it 
occurs three times. In one passage, thus : 

"Know that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called 
California, very near to the Terrestrial Paradise, which was peopled by 
black women, without any men among them, because they were accus- 
tomed tc^ live after the manner ol the Amazons. They were of strong 
and hardened bodies, of ardent courage, and of great force. The 
island was the strongest in the world, from its steep rocks and great 
cliffii Their arms were all of gold, and bo were the caparisons of the 
wild beasts they rode. " 

Another passage reads : 

"In the island called California are many griffins, on account of the 
great savageness of the country and the immense quantity of wild game 
to be found there." 

This romance was very popular in Europe, passed tkrough several 
editions during the twenty-five years immediately preceding the dis- 
covery of this country, and it is quite possible that Hernando Grixalva 
— one of Cortez' officers to whom the honor of making that discovery 
belongs — or some of his companions, may have read it, and, finding 
what they supposed to be an island while sailing "towards the Tei-res- 
trial Paradise," along the coast of Mexico, which is "on the right 
hand of the Indies, " they called it California — ^not because it answered 
to the description in the romance, but to secure an additional interest 
in the discovery, by giving it a name that possessed the attraction 
created by that popular work. They must have drawn on their imagi- 
nation immensely, however, when adapting such a description to that 
portion of the coast first discovered, which is near the site of the 
present port of La Paz, in Lower California. 

There is a tradition among the native Californians, that, in an expe- 
dition of the Spaniards against the Indians, in 1829, they found in 
the country between Tomales Bay and Cape Mendocino, a tribe in which 
the squaws had as much to say, and to do with the affairs of peace 
and war, as the men. These women are stated to have been stout 
and well made, and are remembered, in the old traditions, as "Los 
Amazones." 

Where the author of the romance obtained the name, has noJ; been 
ascertained. It is probable that he took the idea of the location of 
the "Terrestrial Paradise" from a letter, written by Columbus to Per- 



EARLY HISTORY. 6 

dinand and Isabella, many years previously, wlien tlie great navigator 
was about to make a voyage in the same direction as that followed by 
Grixalva, in which he informed his sovereigns that "he shall be sailing 
towards the Terrestrial Paradise." 

It may be stated, in explanation, that long after the discovery made 
by Grixalva, California was considered an island. The peninsula was 
subsequently called the Island of Santa Cruz, and, more than a cen- 
tury afterwards, it was renamed the "Islas Carolinas," in honor of 
Charles II of Spain. 

Some authorities insist that the name is derived from calidus fornus, 
two Latin words signifying "hot oven," giving as a reason for such an 
hypothesis, that it is a custom of immemorial antiquity, among the 
aborigines of this section of the coast, to use "hot ovens" called 
temescal, as a remedy for most of the diseases to which they are sub- 
ject. Every tribe had one or more of these "hot ovens" near their 
villages. These "sweat houses" were quite familiar to the mission- 
aries and early settlers, and may be found in many parts of the State 
at the present time. It is very probable that the earliest explorers 
may have seen some of theitn; and, because the natives used "hot 
ovens" to heal their bodies, may have called the country "a land of 
hot ovens, or calidus formis. 

Clavigero, who wrote a history of California many years ago, quotes 
the opinion of D. Giiiseppo Compoi, a learned Jesuit, on this siibject, 
who states that the name is derived from the Spanish word cala, which 
means "a little cove of the sea," and the Latin word /orma;, "the 
vault, or concave roof of a building" — giving, as a reason for this extra- 
ordinary interpretation, that within Cape St. Lucas (near where Grixalva 
is supposed to have landed) there is "a little cove of the sea," near 
which there was a rock so worn by the waves, that its upper part was 
hollow, like "a vaulted roof," and from these circumstances its dis- 
coverers called the place ca?a /orma;, which has since been softened 
down to California, and applied to the whole country. 

A learned Greek scholar suggests that the name may have been 
compounded from the Greek words Tcala-jyTiora-nea, signifying a beau- 
tiful young woman, or new country. Another Greek scholar suggests 
that it may be derived from kala-pliomeia, signifying beautiful adultery. 
The application of such an interpretation is not very clear, though 
Powers' statue of California represents a beautiful, nude female, 
holding a bundle of thorns behind her, which is claimed to be an 
embodiment of this interpretation ; but it may be quite as appropriate 
to explain such a figure by the seductive beauty of the country, and 



4 THE NATUBAL WEALTH OF CALIFOKNIA. 

the disappointments so many of its earlier visitors encountered. It is 
quite clear tliat the Spanish explorers, who are credited with giving 
the name, had no acquaintance with the seductions that lured so many 
here in after years, because that portion of the country they applied 
this name to, is the most barren and iminviting on the coast. 

Venegas, the most learned of all the early historians of the coast, 
in his "Natural and Civil History of California, " published in 1758, 
states that the name was first used by Bemal Diaz, an officer who had 
served under Cortez, during the conquest of Mexico, and applied by 
him to a bay which he discovered during one of the earliest voyages. 
This learned historian objects to the proposition that the name is 
derived from calida fornax, alleged to have been given to it by the 
early navigators, on the very probable ground that these persons did 
not possess sufficient knowledge of the Latin to make such a com- 
bination. 

There is still anothet alleged origin for the name, mentioned by 
Captain Beechey, in his account of his voyage to this coast in 1826, 
wherein he relates a conversation on this subject, between himself and 
Father Felipe Ai-royo, who was at that time in charge of the Mission 
of San Juan Bautista. The worthy father is stated to have expressed 
his belief that the name originated from colof<yina, the Spanish word 
for rosin ; giving his reason for such belief — that the great number of 
resinous trees the discoverers of the country saw, when they landed, 
impelled them to exclaim : colo/onia! — or rosin. 

This story is so absurd, as to be almost unworthy of notice ; but 
hdving been quoted by a gentleman who has obtained some reputation 
as an authority on California archaeology, it deserves consideration. 
The fact that the portion of the peninsula where these discoverers 
landed, and to which it is admitted they gave the name, is one of the 
most barren, treeless sections of the coast, demolishes the whole story. 

The records of the Jesuit Missions, on the peninsula, say the 
"extreme barrenness of the soil prevented the growth of trees of any 
magnitude. " Father Ugarte, who built the first vessel constructed in 
California — TJie Triumph of the Cross — in 1772, had to haul the timber 
used in its constniction "full thirty leagues from the river Mulege, 
where she was built, " because there was none growing any nearer. 

According to these records, the first discoverers had but little cause 
to exclaim "colofonia !" 

It may be mentioned as a curious fact, although one not having 
any particular reference to this subject, that in Bavaria, and other 
portions of the south of Germany, rosin is called " Kalifornea, " the 




EAELY HISTORY. 5 

•word being pronounced precisely as we pronounce California. The 
origin of tlie German -word it is out of our province to discuss. It is 
merely mentioned as a curious fact. 

Webster tliinks that the root of the name is probably the Spanish 
Ccdifa, from the Arabic Khali/ah, successor or to succeed, the Caliphs 
being the acknowledged successors of Mahommed. 

The explanation of the origin of the natives of the countiy, under 
the head of aborigines, may throw some light on this subject.. 

Numerous other attempts have been made by writers in Mexico, 
the United States, and Europe, to explain the origin of this name; but 
the above are the best and most reasonable of such efforts. 

BY WHOM DISCOVEKED, AND WHEN. 

The territory which at present comprises the great State of Cali- 
fornia, was first discovered, and partially described, in the year 1542, 
by Juan Eodriguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese by birth, but at the time 
serving as pilot, or navigator, in the Spanish service. He also dis- 
covered and named the Farallones islands. Equipped for a voyage 
of discovery along the then unknown shores of the Pacific, under the 
auspices of Mendoza, the Viceroy of Mexico, Cabrillo sailed from the 
port of Navidad, Mexico, on the 27th of June, 1542. Keeping within 
sight of the shore, the greater portion of the distance, he reached as 
far as latitude 40"^ 30', and longitude 124° 35', when he encountered 
the great western headland, which he called Cape Mendoza, in honor 
of his friend and patron, the viceroy — ^but now called Cape Mendocino. 
This fact is almost all that remains on record to prove that Cabrillo 
was the discoverer of the country. He appears to have returned from 
the voyage on the 14th of the following April, without making any 
further discoveries. 

It %yas supposed, for mafty years, that Sir Francis Drake, the 
famous English navigator, was the discoverer of California, as well as 
of the Bay of San Francisco. But, before the light of history, he is 
stripped of both honors, on the clearest possible testimony. Sir 
Francis, it is known, reached the Pacific Ocean through the straits of 
Magellan, on board the Golden Hind, in 1578, thirty-six years after 
Cabrillo had named Cape Mendocino. He was not aware of this fact; 
but, thinking he had discovered a new country, took possession of it 
for "Good Queen Bess," as was the custom in those days. It is 
clearly settled, that the place where he landed is near Point de los 
Keyes, latitude 37° 59' 5". Sir Francis marked it on his chart as in 
latitude 38°. The locality wiU probably be ever known hereafter as 



6 THE NATUEAL WE^VLTH OF CiVLIFOENIA. 

Drake's Bay. The most conclusive argument tliat could be advanced, 
to prove that he did not discover the Bay of San Francisco, is found in 
the name he gave the country — New Albion. There is nothing about 
the entrance of this bay, to call up images of the "white cliffs of old 
England,'' so dear to the hearts of the mariners of that country. Its 
beetling rocks, must have been additionally dark and dreary at the 
season of the year when the great navigator saw them — neither 
green with the verdure of spring, nor russet by the summer's heat ; 
■while, near Point de los Keyes, there is sufficient whiteness about the 
cliffs which skirt the shore to attract attention, and "as it is out of 
the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh," the "bold Briton," 
longing for home, may have pictured to his "mind's eye " some resem- 
blance to "Old Albion." Besides, Drake lay thirty-six days at. anchor, 
which it would have been impossible for so experienced a sailor to 
have done, had it been in our glorious bay, without being impressed 
with its great importance as a harbor, on a coast so destitute of such 
advantages as this ; but he makes no allusion to any feature traceable 
in our bay. He never had the honor of seeing it. 

In 1602, General Sebastian Viscayno, under orders from Philip HI. 
of Spain, made an exploration of the coast of Upper California, in the 
course of which he discovered the harbors of San Diego, on the 10th 
of November. After remaining a few days, he proceeded to the north, 
and, on December 16th, discovered the bay of Monterey, which he 
named in honor of Gaspar de Zimniga, Count de Monte Bey, the then 
Viceroy of Mexico. It was at first called Port of Pines. Viscayno 
remained eighteen days at Monterey, and Avas much impressed with 
the beauty of its surroundings. He also discovered the islands which 
form the Santa Barbara Channel. 

Forbes, in his "History of California," states that Viscayno, on this 
voyage, discovered the bay of San Francisco — a statement which is 
not supported by any other authority. "It is possible that Forbes may 
have misinterpreted a passage from the diary of the voyage, which 
states that "in twelve days after leaving Monterey, a favorable wind 
earned the ship past the port of San Francisco, but she aftenvards put 
back into the port of Francisco. " As the diary fui-ther states that 
"she anchored, January 7th, 1603, behind a point of land called 
Punta de los Reyes, (which was named by Viscayno), ■where there ■was a 
wreck," there is no room to doubt that it was not inside the bay of 
San Francisco, which there is no proof that Viscayno ever saw. In 
1595, Sebastian Cermenon, while on a voyage from Manilla to Aca- 



* EABLY HISTOEY. 7 

pulco, -was wrecked near Punta de los Eeyes. This was the wreck 
alluded to. 

There is a work extant, written by Cabrera Bueno and published in 
Spain, in 1734, which contains instructions to navigators for reaching 
the "Punta los Pieyes, and entering the port of San Prancisco," which 
some authors consider the present bay ; but the wreck of Cermenon's 
vessel near that point, and Viscayno's putting into that port, is toler- 
able evidence that it was not the harbor of San Francisco which is 
here alluded to. There was also a map published in Europe, in 1545, 
three years after Cabrillo's voyage, in which a San Francisco bay is 
named, as well as the Farallones, which some authors consider a proof 
that it was "the Bay." As it was Cabrillo who named those islands, 
after Farallo his pilot, and it is known that he did not eriter "the 
Bay," it is clear that there must have been another San Francisco 
harbor, which is not that known by that name at present. 

It may be stated, as a proof that there was another port of San 
1 rancisco, besides the present bay, that, in 1812, Baranof, chief agent 
of the Kussian-American Company, asked permission from the Gov- 
ernor of California, to erect a few houses and leave a few men at 
Bodega Bay, a "little north of the port of San Francisco." San Fran- 
cisco Bay had been visited before that time, by the Russians, and was 
known to be nearly sixty miles south-east from Bodega, which place is 
only "a little north" of Punta de los Beyes, where the Spanish port of 
San Francisco is located, and where Viscayno anchored. 

As further proof that there was such a harbor, we refer to the fact 
that Governor Portala, when his party first discovered the great bay, 
called it San Francisco, under the impression that it was the harbor of 
that name, north of Punta de los Reyes, which had long been known 
to the Spanish navigators on the coast, as is proven by the above 
extracts. 

From 1610 to 1660, upwards of twenty attempts were made to 
explore and take possession of the country, under a vague, irresistible 
impression that it contained not alone large deposits of gold, silver, 
and pearls, but diamonds and other precious stones. 

But little, however, is known of the country from the date of Viscay- 
no's discoveries, tiU 1767, or one hundred and sixty-four years after- 
wards ; when the Jesuit missionaries, being expelled from Lower Cal- 
ifornia by order of Charles III of Spain, their missions and property 
were granted to the Fathers of the Order of St. Francis. These enthu- 
siastic propagandists, acting under instructions from the Marquis de 
Croix, then Viceroy of Mexico, made arrangements for extending their 



8 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENU. 

labors into the upper territory. To carry this object into effect, Father 
Junipero Serra, a very energetic and zealous member of the order, was, 
in 1768, appointed President of all the Missions to be established in 
Upper California. This holy man, who was the real founder of civiliza^ 
tion in the territory now owned by the State, in company with sixteen 
monks from the convent of San Fernando, in the City of Mexico, pro- 
ceeded to carry out the objects of the Viceroy, which were to establish 
missions at Monterey, San Diego, and San Buenaventm-a. Expeditions 
were at once arranged to take possession of the country, both by sea and 
land; the ships to be used to carryall the heavy materials and supplies, 
and the land party to drive the flocks and herds. The first vessel, the 
San Carlos, in command of Don Vicente Vilal, left Cape St. Lucas 
(Lower California) on the 9th of January, 1769, bound for San Diego, 
and was followed by the San Antonio, commanded by Don Juan Perez, 
on the 15th of January. A third vessel, the San Jose, was dispatched 
from Loretto, on the 16th of June. 

The sufferings of the "pioneers" on board these vessels afford a 
striking contrast to the security, comfort and rapidity enjoyed by the 
voyagers to and from California in the present day. The San Carlos 
arrived at San Diego on the 1st of May, with the loss of all her crew — 
except the officers, cook, and one sailor — through scurvy, thirst, and 
starvation. The San Antonio arrived on April 11th, with the loss of 
eight of her crew by scurvy. The San Jose was never heard of after 
leaving Loretto. 

The land expedition was formed into two divisions. Don Gaspar 
de Portala, who had been appointed Military Governor of the new 
territory by Don Jose de Galvaez, the special agent of the King of 
Spain, appointed Captain Kivera y Moncado to take charge of the 
first ; the Governor himself taking charge of the second. Piivera and 
his party, consisting of Father Crespo, twenty-five soldiers, six mulet- 
eers, and a party of Indians from Lower California, started from Villa- 
cata on the 24th of March, 1768, and arrived at San Diego on thtf 14tL 
of May. This was the first white settlement in Upper California. 

Father Begart, a German Jesuit, who lived for many years in 
Lower California, on the expulsion of his Order from that territory, 
returned to Manheim, his native place, where, in 1773, he published 
an "Historical Sketch of the American Peninsula of California, " in 
which he states that no white man had ever lived in Upper California 
until the year 1769. 

The second division, accompanied by Father Junipero, started 
from Villacata on the 15th of May, and arrived at San Diego Jidy 1st. 



EAELT HISTORY. 9 

The worthy father organized the mission on the 16th of July ; ancT the 
first native Californian was baptized on the 26th of December. 

On the 14th of July, Governor Portala, accompanied by Fathers 
Juan Crespi and Francisco Gomez, and fifty-six white persons, 
including Captain Bivera, a sergeant, and thirty-three soldiers, Don 
Miguel Constanzo, engineer, a party of emigrants from Sonora, and a 
number of Indians from Lower California, started out to find Monterey, 
for the purpose of founding the mission there. By some means or 
other, they did not find the bay of Monterey ; but, continuing their 
wanderings to the north, they, on the 25th of October, 1769, dis- 
covered the gem of the Pacific — -the bay of San Francisco, one of the 
finest harbors in the world, so securely land-locked and sheltered that 
none of the keen explorers who had been within a few miles of it, had 
succeeded in discovering its entrance. Having given the bay the 
name of San Francisco — the titular saint of the missionaries — the party 
returned to San Diego, which they reached on the 24th of Janu- 
ary, 1770, after an absence of sis months and ten days. 

Some writers credit Father Junipero Serra with the discovery of 
this beautiful bay; but there are no good reasons for believing that 
he ever saw it for nearly six years after its discovery. His name is 
not included in the list of those who accompanied Governor Portala, 
whose party made the discovery. On the contrary, it is distinctly 
stated by Father Palou, the chronicler of the missions, that "Father 
Junipero, with two other missionaries and eight soldiers, remained 
behind at San Diego." 

It was discovered soon after their return, that the provisions on 
hand were only sufficient for a few Aveeks, with little prospect of relief, 
unless a vessel, then several months overdue, should make her appear- 
ance. It was decided that, if she did not arrive before the 20th of 
March, the party would return to the missions in the lower territory, 
and abandon the upper one. The arrangements were completed for 
this purpose when, on the 20th, the San Antonio made her appear- 
ance, or California would have been abandoned, and the most im- 
portant events in her history wotdd never have been written. 

Scarcely any importance appears to have been attached to the 
discovery of the grand bay in which the ships of all nations have since 
found wealth and safety. It was upwards of six years before any 
attempt was made to found a mission on its shores. 



10 THE NATUE.VL WTS.ULTII OF C.VLIT'OK^■I.\. 

JHE CHANGES IN ITS BOUNDAEIES. 

As explained in a preceding portion of this cliapter, tlic name Cali- 
fornia, was originally ajoplied either by Grixalva to the peninsula of 
Lower California, under the supposition that it was an island, or by Ber- 
nal Diaz, to a bay in the same vicinity. Through causes which do not 
come within the province of our pui-pose to explain, in the course of 
the century succeeding its adoption, this mysterious name of California, 
which has since attracted the attention of the whole civilized world, had 
spread to such an extent that it embraced the entire continent to the 
north, as far as the arctic circle, as well as a considerable portion of the 
territory on the south of both the points to which it is claimed to have 
been originally ajDplied. 

In 1536, we find it applied by the Spaniards to the southern portion 
of the great peninsula which extends on the western side of North Amer- 
ica, and to the whole Pacific Coast, from the 32d degree of north latitude 
to the limit of the frigid zone. Subsequently, they caused it to include 
that portion of the continent northwest of Mexico, and extending east 
to Canada ; claiming the whole country by right of a Pope's bull. 

Nor were the Spaniards the only nation that aided in extending the 
dominion of the name of California. Jean Bleau, a famous Dutch 
geographer, published an extensive work on the geography of the Pa- 
cific coast, in 1662, at Amsterdam, in which he includes, under the 
name of California, the whole coast from the northern boundary of 
South America to Behring's straits, (then called the straits of Anian,) 
This application of the name was followed by many French, Spanish, 
English, German, and Russian writers on geography, dui-ing the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth centuries. Until as recently as 1750, Kodiack, a 
portion of the late Eussian territory of Alaska, was included in Califor- 
nia, in many works published relating to the Pacific and northwest coast. 

Yet, notwithstanding that it denominated so extensive a section of 
the North American continent, it was not imtil toAvards the close of the 
eighteenth century, that the name of California began to be generally 
known in Europe or the United States — being considered of so little 
importance as to be rarely mentioned, except by writers on geography. 

In a map of the world, published in the year 1554, at Venice, a copy 
of which is in the Odd Fellows' Library at San Francisco, the continent 
of North America unites with Asia, the river Colorado is shown as 
having its source in the mountains of Thibet, and empties into the 
Gulf of California, after meandering through the continent for more 
than fifteen thousand miles. 



EARLY HISTOET. 11 

On English maps, publislied as recently as 1750, California is repre- 
sented as an island, extending from Cape St. Lucas to tlie forty-fiftli 
degree of latitude. It was not until Father Begart's book on California 
"was published at Manheim, in 1771, that California was known to be a 
portion of the American continent by geographers, and many years 
after it was still referred to as a peninsula. 

Towards the close of the seventeenth century, the Spaniards had lost 
a considerable portion of their loosely held territory, by the encroach- 
ments of the British, Russians, and Americans, on its northern and 
northeastern borders, as well as by absolute abandonment, so that for 
nearly a hundred years, the boundaries of California proper, included 
only the peninsula known as Lower California, and the strip of coun- 
try embraced within a line arbitrarily drawn from the head of the Gulf 
of Mexico to the shore of the Pacific Ocean, considerably to the south 
of the present harbor of San Diego. 

After the settlement of the territory north of the peninsula, by the 
missionaries, in 1769, it being considered a portion of the same coun- 
try, inhabited by the same race of people, it was again called Califor- 
nia, but distinguished from the older territory by being called New, or 
Upper California. It had been recognized for several years previously 
as New Albion, a name given to it by Sir Francis Drake, who, while on 
an exploring expedition on the coast, in 1759, took possession of the 
country in the name of Queen Elizabeth of England. Many of the 
English writers described it as "Drake's Land, back of Canada." It 
is a portion of this Upper California, or New Albion, this land "behind 
Canada, " which now forms the flourishing State of California. 

The boundaries of the new territory thus re-acquired by Spain, 
through the services of the missionaries, was never very accurately 
defined until its purchase by the United States from Mexico, which 
had acquired it by the " right of revolution." The missionaries, from 
1796 till about 1820, were literally ' ' monarchs of all they surveyed " — 
no one questioning their pretensions. When La Perouse visited the 
country, in 1786, the authority of the military governor of the two Cali- 
fornias extended over about eight hundred leagues. Although under 
the control of a military ofiicer, the territories were purely religious 
colonies. There were no settlements outside of the twenty-one mis- 
sions which then existed at different points along the coast, none of 
which were located more than a few miles from the sea. 

In 1835, according to Forbes, the British Consul on the coast at 
that time, the boundaries of Upper California, under the control of the 
missionaries and early settlers, were about five hundred miles in length 



12 . THE NATiniAL WEALTH OF C.iLIFOENIA. 

by an average breadth of about forty miles, forming an area of about 
twenty thousand square miles, or thirteen millions of English statute 
acres. No settlements had been attempted in the foot-hills at that 
date. 

When the United States commenced negotiations for the acquisi- 
tion of the territory, California was considered as including the penin- 
sula and the territory extending from it on the Pacific coast, northward, 
as far as the southern limit of Oregcfn ; Cape Mendocino, in latitude 
40° 27' being assumed by the United States as the extreme northern 
limit of the Mexican territory — though the government of that country 
claimed to a higher parallel of latitude, in accordance with a treaty 
made between the two governments in May, 1828. But the northern 
limit of the actual Mexican settlements in California, at that time, were 
San Francisco, in 37° 47' north latitude, and longitude 122° 22' west, 
and Cape St. Lucas, on the south, in 22°48' north latitude, and 109°47' 
longitude. 

By the treaty between the United States and Mexico, of May, 1848, 
the territory obtained by the United States, extending eastward from 
the Pacific Coast was so extensive, and so little known, that the mem- 
bers of the Convention which assembled at Monterey in 1849 to frame 
a Constitution for the then embryo State of California, found it exceed- 
ingly difficult to decide how far they should extend the border of the 
new State into this terra incognita. The committee af)pouited for that 
purpose proposed to make the boundaries, the ocean on the west, Oregon 
on the north, Mexico on the south, and the 116th parallel of longitude 
on the east, which would have included about one half of the present 
State of Nevada, the territory of which, at that time, was supposed to 
be a barren, Avorthless wilderness. It was proposed by one member 
of the Convention to amend the report by adopting the line of separa- 
tion between California and New Mexico, as marked on Fremont's map, 
which would have included a great portion of Utah, as well as the whole 
of Nevada. Another member proposed to amend the report by extend- 
ing the eastern boundary to the 10.5th parallel of longitude, which 
would have included Nevada, Utah, and portions of Nebraska, as 
well as nearly the whole of Colorado. The matter, after consider- 
able debate, was finally decided by adopting the following boundaries, 
which are those at present existing: "Commencing at the point of 
intersection of the 42nd degree of north latitude with the 120th degree 
of longitude west of Greenwich, and running south on the line of said 
120th degree of west longitude until it intersects the 39th degi'ee of 
north latitude ; thence running in a straight line in a southeasterly 



EARLY rnSTORY. 13 

direction, to the Kiver Colorado, at a point wliere it intersects tlae 35tli 
degree of north latitude ; thence down the middle of the channel of said 
river to the boandaiy line between the United States and Mexico, as 
established by the treaty of May 30th, 1848 ; thence running west, and 
along said boundary line to the Pacific Ocean, and extending therein 
three English miles ; thence running in a northwesterly direction, and 
following the direction of the Pacific Coast to the 42nd degree of north 
latitude ; thence on the line of said 42nd degree of north latitude to the 
place of beginning ; also, all the islands, harbors, and bays along and 
adjacent to the Pacific Coast." • 

These boundaries embrace a territory of about seven hundred miles 
in length by about two hundred miles in average breadth — covering 
nearly one hundred and fiity-nine thousand square miles ; the longest 
line, seven hundred and niaety-seven miles, being from Crescent City, 
Del Norte County, to Fort Yuma, in San Diego County; forming a State 
larger than any other in the North American Eepublic, except Texas — 
three times as large as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire- 
land, and nearly as large as the whole French Empire. 

THE MISSIONS— THEIR BEGrNNING AND END, 

"We have already shown that the first successful efforts towards civ- 
ilization in Upper California were made by monks of the Order of St. 
Francis. Without going into details of the history of these real 
pioneers of the State, or of the missions they founded, these mis- 
sions form such an important link in the chain of events that mark the 
progress of California, that the merest sketch of its history would be 
incomplete, were they omitted. Besides, these generous old Padres 
deserve a passing notice, as a mark of recognition of their well-intended 
but ill-directed labors in the service of God and man. What pro- 
foundly interestiag material for the moralist, the virtues and weaknesses 
of these kind old men furnish. How true to them has been the prov- 
erb that "the love of money is the root of all evil." While few Christ- 
ians, or philanthropists, can approve of that religion, or system of gov- 
ernment, which aims at no higher purpose than to cultivate the fears of 
the untutored child of nature in order to make him labor for the advan- 
tage of his teacher — none can ponder over the sweeping destiaiction 
of the wretched natives which followed the abolishment of the missions 
without feeling pity for the miserable remnant of the race remaining, 
who are neither savage nor civilized, having the vices of both conditions, 
but the virtues of neither. 

For several years after the establishment of the first three missions, 



14 THE NATORAL WEALTH OP C.VLIFOKNIA. 

briefly referred to heretofore, the missionaries -were liberally sustained 
with means for their support and for the extension of operations, both 
by grants from the Spanish government, which was most anxious for 
the settlement of the country, and its annexation to that empire, and 
by contributions and endo-wments fi'om zealous Catholics of Spain and 
Mexico, who were anxious that all the natives should be converted to 
Christianity. These grants and collections had been previously formed 
into what was called the "Pious Fimd of California, " during the days of 
the Jesuits, but on the expulsion of that order were placed under the 
control of the Convent of San Fernando, of the Order of St. Francis, 
in the City of Mexico, from whence all the missionaries were sent. 
By the aid of this fund, the increase of their herds and flocks, and the 
labors of the natives, in the course of a few years the raissionaries 
became wealthy, and, but for the radical error of the whole system, 
which required separation from the world to insure success, they might 
have been in existence to-day — one of the wealthiest religious commu- 
nities on earth— with their proselytes as happy and contented as they 
are now wretched and miserable. 

For sixty years after their settlement the missionaries had an almost 
undisturbed field in which to test the efficiency of their schemes for 
civilizing the natives. They extended their dominions from San Diego 
to San Francisco, established missions at intervals of twenty or thirty 
miles between these places; took possession of the whole countrj-, by 
causing the lands of one mission to join with another, so that free 
settlers, who even in those early days desired to dwell in the land, were 
as effectually excluded as if the whole coast had been surrounded by a 
-wall — for the Holy Fathers were the temporal as well as the spiritual 
lords of the land, and there was no apj)eal from their decisions. They 
cultivated the vine, the olive, and the fig, and enjoyed all the comforts 
and luxuries a genial climate, a generous soil, and abundance of cost- 
less labor could produce; for the whole race of natives were their ser- 
vants, working for food and raiment of their own production. In 1831 
there were 18,683 Indians domesticated at the missions, while their 
horses, cattle and sheep multiplied amazingly on the virgin pastures that 
covered the valleys of the Coast Eange. Evit, as the Fathers waxed 
rich, they seemed to have relaxed their efforts for the conversion of tho 
heathen, and paid more attention to the cultivation of their broad acres 
than to civilizing their neophytes. 

After founding twenty-one missions along the coast, (the last of 
which, in 1823) they appear to have abandoned all the natives of the 
interior to their fate, as there is no proof that any eflbrt was ever made 



EAELY HISTOET. 15 

by the missionaries to explore the interior of the territory, to ascertain 
whether the country or its inhabitants were worth cultivating. From 
1800 to 1822 the Fathers appear to have experienced the most halycon 
days of the system, living in patriarchal state, with almost regal reven- 
ues and powers. Beyond the mere routine of religious formality, their 
priestly office had degenerated into managers of farms, flocks and herds, 
and traders in produce. 

About the year 1800, vessels from Boston, New Torli:, and England, 
while sailing in search of adventures, along the shores of the "South 
Seas," or on the "North West Coast," as this 'then unknown portion of 
the world was called, occasionally found their way through the Golden 
Gate, to trade with the missionaries for hides, tallow, and wine, and 
other produce of the missions, the white and red wines of which soon 
obtained high repute. The Mission of San Gabriel annually made 
from four hundred to sis hundred barrels of wine, and several of the 
other missions nearly as much. 

The overthrow of the Spanish dominion in Mexico, in 1822, was the 
death blow of the mission system, although it had begun to decay sev- 
eral years previously. No new missions were founded after 1823. 
The precautions the Fathers had taken to prevent free emigrants 
settling in the territory redounded to their injury, because it deprived 
them of all means of self defence, linder the new order of things the 
change of government introduced, as, at the time of framing the Con- 
stitution for the Mexican Republic, population was, very properly, 
considered as the basis of representation, when, having only a few 
white inhabitants — the Indians not being taken into consideration — 
Upper California was denied representation as a State, and was declared 
a Territory, entitled to a representative in the Congress, who had no 
vote. The first delegate was a sergeant of one of the military com- 
panies, who held that office for two years, because no other eligible 
resident was to be found. 

Yery soon after the independence of Mexico, the great riches pos- 
sessed by the California missions had become a subject of much solici- 
tude to the Mexican Congress, and in 1826 a law was passed to deprive 
the Fathers of their lands, and of the labor of the Indians — stopping 
their salaries, and appropriating, the "Pious Fimd" to the service of 
the Eepublic. 

The accumulation of wealth by the Fathers had grown to be enor- 
mous. According to Rev. "Walter Colton, Chaplain of the U. S. ship 
Congress, the first Protestant clergyman that resided in California, in 
1825, the Mission of San Francisco owiaed 76,000 head of cattle, 950 



16 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF C.VLITOENTA. 

tame horses, 2,000 breeding mares, 84 stud of choice breed, 820 mules, 
79,000 sheep, 2,000 hogs, and 45G yoke of working oxen. 

The Santa Clara Mission had 74,280 cattle, 407 yoke of working 
oxen, 82,540 sheep, 1,890 horses broken to saddle, 4,235 breeding 
mares, 725 mtdes, and 1,000 hogs. This mission, in the year 1823, 
branded 22, 400 calves, as the increase of that year. 

The Mission of San Jose' had 62,000 cattle, 840 broken horses, 1,500 
mares, 420 mules, 310 yoke of working oxen, and 62,000 sheep. 

The Mission of San Juan Bautista, as early as 1820, owned 43,870 
cattle, 1,360 tame horses, 4,870 mares and colts, and 69,500 sheep. 

The San Carlos Mission, in 1825, had 87,600 cattle, 1,800 horses 
and mares, 365 yoke of working oxen, and 7, 500 sheep. 

The Soledad Mission in 1826 owned 36, 000 head of cattle ; a larger 
number of horses and mares than any other mission ; 70,000 sheep, 
and 300 yoke of oxen. 

The Mission of San Antonio, in 1822, had 52,800 head of cattle, 
1,800 tame horses, 3,000 mares, 500 yoke of oxen, 600 mides, 48,000 
sheep, and 1,000 hogs. 

The San Miguel Mission, in 1821, had 91,000 cattle, 1,100 tame 
horses, 3,000 mares, 2,000 mules, 170 yoke of oxen, and 47,000 sheep. 

The Mission of San Luis Obispo had 87,000 cattle, 2,000 tame 
horses, 3,500 mares, 3,700 mules, and 72,000 sheep. One of the 
Fathers of this mission took $100,000 with him when he left for Spain, 
in 1828. 

All the other missions were equally rich in live stock ; while the 
specie in the coffers of the Fathers, and value of the gold and silver 
ornaments of the churches, exceeded half a million of dollars. 

Here again the errors of the mission system became apparent. The 
wretched natives, educated to obey the Fathers in all things, without 
being taught to depend upon themselves in any way, when deprived of 
their directors, became more dangerous to the few settlers then in the 
ten-itory than the wild Indians of the interior. On the representations 
of these settlers, who became every year more numerous and influen- 
tial, the Congress was induced, a year or two after^-ards, to repeal that 
portion of the law relating to the natives, and they were permitted to 
return to the missions. But they were never again as contented, or as 
much under control as before. The products of the labor of such of 
them as returned to work on the mission ranches, together with the 
hides and tallow obtained from their flocks and herds, enabled the 
Fathers to maintain themselves in tolerable ^^uence till the year 1833, 
when the Congress enacted a law to abolish the missions entirely, to 



EAELY mSTOET. 17 

remove the missionaries, and to divide their lands and cattle among 
the natives and settlers. Santa Anna coming into power through the 
aid of the church party, before the law cotdd be carried into effect, it 
was repealed. 

It was a very narrow escape for the Fathers, however. Commis- 
sioners had been appointed by the government to engage emigrants in 
Mexico, who were to be paid half a dollar per day till their arrival in 
California, with a free passage, and provisions on the way. 

Nearly three hundred men, women, and children arrived at San 
Francisco in 1834, to form a colony on the strength of this confiscation 
law^ but Santa Anna had sent messengers overland with instructions to 
Figueroa, the Governor of the Territory, who, when the emigrants 
arrived, informed them of the changed condition of affairs, and the 
missions escaped spoliation for that time. But their end was near, for 
amid all the turmoils and political convulsions that distracted Mexico 
during the ensuing ten years, every pai4y that managed to get hold of 
the reins of government continued to fleece the Fathers out of some- 
thing, till, little by little, they were deprived of all their privileges. 

The missions became neglected, the Indians could no longer be 
induced to plant crops, and there was nobody else who would, so the 
fields were overgrown with weeds, and the Fathers became careless, 
killing thousands of their cattle to obtain the price of their hides and 
taUow. Matters grew from bad to worse until 1840, when the Congress 
took charge of the missions, and most of them were permitted to go to 
ruin. In 1845, several of those remaining were sold at auction to who- 
ever would buy them, and the miserable Indians, whose labors had built 
them up, were abandoned to their fate. Thus ended the mission sys- 
tem of California, a system which had clearly "outlived its usefulness," 
but had prepared the way for a better civilization, in which the • unfor- 
tunate natives of the soil were not destined to participate. 

The last of the old missionaries. Father Altemira, the Padre of San 
Bafael and Sonoma at the time of the abolishment of the missions, 
was living at Teneriffe, one of the Canary Islands, in 1860. 

The following is a list of the missions, the date of their formation. 
and where located : 

Names, When Founded. Where Located. 

1st . .San Diego July 16, 1769 Latitude 32°48' 

and. . San Carlos de Monterey June 3, 1770 Latitude 36044' 

3rd. .San Antonio de Padua July 14, 1771 Latitude 36°30' 

4th. .San Gabriel Sept. 8, 1771 Latitude 34O10' 

5tli. .San Luis Obispo Sept. 1, 1772 Latitude 35036' 

Gth. . San Francisco de los Dolores Oct. 9, 1776. Latitude 370&7' 

2 



18 THE NATCEAl 'WEiVLTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

Itames. When Founded. 'Where Located. 

7th. . San Juan Capistrano Nov. 1, 177G Latitude 33°26' 

8th.. Santa Clara Jan. 18, 1777 Latitude 37=20' 

9th.. San Buenaventura - March 21, 1782 Latitude 33^36' 

10th. . Santa Barbara Dec 4, 1786 Latitude 34O40' 

11th. .La Purisima Concepcion Dec. 8, 1787 Latitude 35° — 

12th. .Santa Cruz Aug. 28, 1791 Latitude 37° — 

13th. .Nuestra SeSora La Solidad Oct. 9, 1791 Latitude 36=38' 

14th.. San Jos^ June 11, 1797 Latitude 37=30' 

15th.. San Juan Bautista June 24, 1797 Latitude 36=58' 

16th. . San Miguel July 25, 1797 Latitude 35=48' 

17th. .San Fernando Bey Sept. 8, 1797 Latitude 34=16' 

18th. .San Luis Bey June 13, 1798 Latitude 33=3' 

19th . . Santa Inez Virgin y Martyr Sept. 17, 1804 Latitude 34=52' 

20th. .San Rafael Dec. 14, 1817 Latitude 38= — 

21st. .San Francisco de Solano de Sonoma April 25, 1820 Latitude 38=30' 

These missions were all built on one general plan, but some -were 
constructed of better materials, and more artistically finislied than 
others, according to the locality and skill of the missionaries in charge, 
who generally acted as architects, masons, and superintendents. They 
usually formed three sides of a square in outline. In the middle was 
the church, on which the greatest amount of labor was always expended, 
in order to make it as large and as handsome as possible. Its interior 
was as highly decorated as the means of the presiding Father would 
admit. Its walls were always adorned with gorgeously colored pic- 
tures of subjects calculated to attract the attention of the simple minded 
natives, while about the altar were placed massive gilt candlesticks, 
images, gold and silver vessels, and everything that had a tendency to 
attract special attention to them. The old Mission Church, at Santa 
Clara, which stiU exists, in excellent repair, is an interesting specimen 
of the skill of the missionaries, and of the labor of the natives. At this 
mission the houses of the natiA'es formed five rows of streets, and 
were more comfortable than at any other. 

The old Mission of San Juan, which stands fronting the town of San 
Juan South, is another good illustration of these relics of the past. 
Its adobe walls, with their long corridors of massive arches, is strongly 
in contrast with the modern brick convent adjoining, in which one hun- 
dred young ladies are taught the same religion the founders of the mis- 
sions sought to propagate among the natives. 

The Santa Barbara Mission, which also continues in tolerably good 
repair, is one of the most pretentious of these ancient structures. At 
each corner of the front of this building there is a tower thirty-five feet 
iiigh, surmounted by double belfries, above each of which is the sym- 
bolical cross. In front of this massive fajade there still remains the 



EARLY EISTOEY. 19 

ruins of a large fountain, and the signs of tlie walks and parterres the 
Fathers delighted to cultivate. 

. The houses occupied by the priests were always close to the churcti, 
and behind them were arranged the workshops and storehouses. Most 
of the main buildings were constructed of adobe, or unburnt clay, 
moulded into masses as large as a man could conveniently lift, and 
were roofed with tiles partially burned, to better stand the weather. 
The quarters occupied by the natives were generally at some distance 
from the church, and consisted sometimes of rough adobe walls, cov- 
ered with leaves, and at others of mere huts, such as the Indians usually 
constructed for themselves in the wilderness. 

Near the Indian quarters, which were called the raiicJieria, was the 
Castillo, in which resided the garrison, generally three or four Mexican 
cavalry soldiers — an accompaniment of every mission. This citadel 
was made as strong as possible, to withstand attacks from the Indians, 
in case of outbreaks among them, which were of frequent occurrence 
during the early days of the settlement. The soldiers who resided at 
the missions were a worthless set of ruffians, most of them having been 
transported to California as a punishment for crimes committed in 
Mexico. 

In addition to the military stationed at the missions there were dis- 
tinct military establishments called Presidios, maintained by the Span- 
ish government to aid in preserving peace among the natives, as well as 
to repel any attempt at invasion by foreign powers. There were four 
of these Presidios — located at San Diego, Monterey, San Francisco, 
and Santa Barbara, the chief harbors in the territory. Each was for- 
tified with high walls made of adobe, on which were mounted a few 
guns of small calibre. The garrisons were rarely inside these for- 
tifications. Being under but little restraint, they roamed over the 
country, or settled upon some pleasant spot, took one of the converted 
Indian women for a wife, and obtained a grant of land as a dower. 
The first grant of land in the territory, by the Spanish government, 
was made on the 27th of November, 1775, to Manuel Butron, a Span- 
ish soldier, who married Marguerita, one of the converts of the Mis- 
sion of San Carlos. 

Many of the old Spanish soldiers and their descendants are living 
in California, at this time, on ranchos granted to them for services at 
these Presidios. One of these relics of the past was living at Santa 
Barbara in 1865, and was quite a curiosity in his way. He wore knee 
breeches and buckles, and silver buttons on his jacket, as in the days 
of old, and was fond of telling about the events that occurred while 



20 THE NATUE.U, \ST:ALTH 07 C.ULIFOENIA. 

California was under the dominion of Spain. He was in Monterey in 
the year 1800, and had such a vivid impression of the great earthquake 
of 1812 as to give quite an interesting account of the forty days shaking 
which then occurred. He was with Captain Morago on the first expe- 
dition sent to explore the country, when that Captain discovered the 
Sm Joaquin River, and reached the Sierra Nevada, giving the present 
name to Calaveras county, in consequence of finding the bones of so 
many dead Indians scattered about. What changes have taken place 
in the country dui'ing the life of this old resident ! 

It appears to have been the design of the Spanish government to 
settle the coimtry by such men, as it authorized the laying out of 
"pueblos," or towns, near each of the presidios and missions, in which 
every settler was to have had a two hundred vara lot of ground, as a 
homestead, with the privilege of certain common and timber lands, 
laid out for the use of the villages. This relic of Spanish rule in Cali- 
fornia has been the source of much litigation since the country has 
come into the possession of the Americans, as the titles to lands made 
by the Spanish or Mexican authorities are recognized in the courts of 
the United States. 

The site on which the City of San Francisco has been built was a 
portion of the pueblo of the mission located there. A number of par- 
ties claimed this land, on the pretext that there was no pueblo at this 
place, but the Supreme Court of the United States having decided that 
there was, a new cause of litigation arose, to decide who were the law- 
ful custodians of the four leagues of these pueblo lands — by whom, and 
to whom, they should be distributed. These points continue to attract 
much attention, and are of vital importance to the present and futui'e 
prosperity of the State. 

There were also three independent to-vvns, or pueblos, altogether 
separate from the missions and presidios, formed by the old Spanish 
or Creole soldiers discharged from the service, who man-ied among 
the natives and settled at these places, which were : Los Angeles, San 
Jose, and Branciforte — ^now Santa Cruz. 

THE ABORIGINES OF CALITOKNIA. 

There is scarcely any subject connected with the early history of 
the State, more instructive or suggestive, as exliibiting its natural 
wealth, than the condition of its original inhabitants, when they were 
first discovered. 

Owing to the studied efforts of the missionaries, to misrepresent 
the mental and physical condition of the native Calif or nians, in order 



EAELY HISTORY. 21 

fo palliate their own conduct in holding them in bondage for so many 
years, it is not safe to trust the writings of the Fathers on this subject. 
According to their reports, the unfortunate race stood at the very foot 
in the scale of humanity — were inferior in intelligence to the Bosjes- 
men of Africa, and worse in their habits than the disgusting 
aborigines of Australia. Such a character not only does injustice to 
the aborigines of California, but to the country that gave them birth; 
although it is generally accepted by those who form an estimate of the 
condition and disposition of the race, by the wretched remnant of it 
now remaining. It is necessary to go back to the period ere he 
became sophisticated by civilization, to form a just estimate of the 
aboriginal Californian, or of the country he inhabited. Fortunately, 
there are numerous disinterested sources through which the most 
reliable information on the subject may be obtained, from the date of 
their first discovery. 

It is unjust to charge him, as do some, with being indolent, 
because his native land furnished him with abundance of food, without 
much exertion on his part ; or to say he was cowardly, because he was 
not continually at war with his neighbors, in an incessant struggle for 
existence — the normal condition of most savage races ; or to consider 
him more savage than other savages, because he built only frail houses 
and made but few clothes, which the mildness of the climate, and the 
fashions of his race, enabled him to dispense with. Some writers even 
go so far as to insist that the Californian Indians were lower, as types 
of humanity, than the Fejee or Sandwich Islanders, because the 
latter made clothes, cultivated the soil, and were skilled in the use of 
weapons of warfare. Such writers should remember that the islanders 
were compelled to make garments, to protect themselves against the 
heat and cold of their country; were obliged to cultivate the soil, or 
starve, as it produced but little spontaneously, and had to become 
dexterous in the use of weapons of warfare, in order to avoid being 
eaten by their conquerors. No such exigency or necessity attended 
the life of the aboriginal Californian. Is it fair, then, to charge him 
with indolence, because his beneficent Creator had abundantly pro- 
vided for all his wants, and left him but little to do except to enjoy 
life ? No country in the world was as well supplied by Nature, with 
food for man, as California, when first discovered by the Spaniards. 
Every one of its early visitors have left records to this effect — they all 
found its hills, valleys and plains filled with elk, deer, hares, rabbits, 
quail, and other animals fit for food ; its rivers and lakes swarming 
with salmon, troul^ and other fish, their beds and banks covered with 



22 THE NATURAL WE.VLTH OF CALIFOKNLV. 

mussels, clams, and other edible mollusca ; the rocks on its sea shores 
crowded with seal and otter ; and its forests full of trees and plants, 
bearing acorns, nuts, seeds and berries, while its climate was so mild 
and genial, that clothing was not a necessity. It would have been 
strange indeed, if an uncivilized race, whose lot was cast in such a 
pleasant place, had not been found enjoying life, as they understood 
it. It may have been their misfortune to have been born in so desir- 
able a country — one so well adapted for the dwelling-place of their 
superiors ; but it is not just to charge such a circumstance against 
them as a fault, or to accuse them of indolence when there was no 
necessity for them to labor. Equally unjust is it, to charge them with 
being stupid, and incapable of instmction, in the face of the fact that 
it was their labors that enriched the missions, and proved to the world 
the latent value of the soil of California. Nor is it true that, as a race, 
they were cowardly. The record shows how bravely many of the 
chiefs and tribes contested the encroachments of the first settlers on 
their lands. Marin county owes its name to the chief of the Lecatuit 
Indians who inhabited that section of the State until 1824, and for 
many years defied all the forces sent to dispossess him. Sonoma, the 
name of another county, containing one of the most beautiful valleys 
on the coast, derives its name from a famous chief of the Chocuyens. 
Solano, the name of another county, was once that of a warlike chief of 
the Suisxms. Napa county derives its name from the tribe that once 
owned the land between San Pablo bay and Mount St. Helens, which 
now forms its beautiful farms, orchards, and gardens, which they 
fought long and fiercely to retain as their hunting grounds. So with 
Colusa, Shasta, Yolo, and several other counties — their names are the 
mausoleimis of extinct tribes of aborigines, who bravely struggled 
against an inexorable destiny, which has in so few years swept them 
away. 

The annals of the State, during the past eighteen years, either 
prove how fiercely the natives fought for the land of their birth, or that 
many thousands of dollars were expended in exterminating a race of 
men who did not deserve thus to die. 

They are accused of having been destitute of any conception of 
religion, affection, trade, art, or any of the higher attributes of 
humanity. This is unjust to them, as well as to California. If it be 
true, as it is asserted by philosophers, that Natiu-e dominates over 
man, and constrains his actions through the agency of the scenery and 
physical conditions that surround him — a theory strangely confirmed 
by the distingoishing traits of all civilized nations — then California, 



EAELY HISTOBT. 23 

vrith its cloudless skies, salubrious air, gorgeous scenery, and abund- 
ance of all the elements that minister to human happiness, could not 
have produced a race destitute of factdties to enjoy the blessings pro- 
vided for them by their Creator. Nor did it produce such a race ; 
there is abundance of proof to the contrary. 

Cabrillo, the discoverer of the country, who spent six months 
among the natives who dwelt ^~ —hat is now Santa Barbara county, 
has left on record the names of forty towns, or villages (pueblos) which 
existed in that section of the State, at the time of his visit. 

Viscayno, who visited the same section of the coast in 1602, or 
sixty years after Cabrillo, confirms all that his predecessor had stated 
about the condition of the aborigines, and says : they lived by 
hunting, fishing, and gathering seeds, nuts, and wild fruit. This 
authority states, further, that on the Island of Santa Catalina, off the 
coast of Santa Barbara, the natives had large wooden canoes, capable 
of holding twenty persons each, with which they caught large quan- 
tities of fish, which they sold to the natives on the main land. 

It has been known to the Jesuit Fathers, and Spanish Government in 
Mexico, since 1540, that the natives of Upper California traded with 
the tribes dwelling far in the interior of the continent, for abalone, 
cowry and other shells, and various other articles. Father Palou says : 
"the natives of the main land made rafts, or canoes of the tule, for 
fishing, in which they went a great way out to sea. " These extracts 
are sufficient to show that the natives were not destitute of skill, enter- 
prise, or intelligence. 

"With reference to their notions of morality. Father Junipero Serra, 
the founder of the missions in Upper California, writing to his 
brethren on the peninsula, under date of July 3d, 1769, two days after 
his arrival in what is now the State of California, says : 

"The number of savages is immense. All those of this coast, from 
the shore of Todos Santos, live very contentedly upon various seeds 
and fish, which they catch from their canoes made of tule, with which 
they go out a considerable distance to sea. They are very affable. All 
the males, both large and small, go naked ; but the females are mod- 
estly clad, even to the little girls at the breast." 

Father Palou records the same peculiarity of clothing the females, 
aa do all the early visitors to the coast. Captain "Woodes Eogers, who 
waa here in 1711, says none of the young females were permitted to be 
seen by him or his crew. 

They were remarkable for the affection that existed between parents 



24 THE NATUEAL "WEALTH OF C.VLIFOENIA. 

and children, and for the firmness of the friendships that were formed 
among them. 

They Avere not quarrelsome, rarely fighting, and amused them- 
selves with games of skill or chance, and dancing, which, if considered 
stupid by those accustomed to scenes in other lands, was quite exciting 
to them. In their marital relations they did not differ materially from 
the Mormons of the present day — the daughters and their mother often 
being the wives of the same man. Father Palou says : "The first bap- 
tisms made at the mission of San Francisco, were of three children, all 
born within two months, sons of an Indian and three sisters, to whom 
he was married, as well as to their mother. 

They must have had some idea of a futui-e state, or they would not 
have burned or buried their ornaments and weapons with the dead, as 
was the universal custom. They expressed their ideas of a change 
from life to immortality, by saying that "as the moon died, and came 
to life again, so man came to life after death;" and believed that the 
"hearts of good chiefs went up to heaven and were converted into 
stars, to watch over their tribe on earth." 

There were priests, or sorcerers, both male and female, among 
them, who pretended to exercise supernatural control over their 
bodies, claiming to cure disease by incantations and curious rites and 
ceremonies. These priests wore long robes made of human hair, and 
were formidable rivals to the missionaries. Scores of these human- 
hair robes were burned by the Fathers, before their rivals were driven 
out of the field. 

VisCayno says, the natives of Catalina Island had a temple, con- 
taining an idol "which they worshipped with sacrifices." These 
excerpts are sufficient to prove that they were not destitute of aU ' 'con- 
ceptions of religion. " 

Captain Eogers says, of their honesty, that they never took any- 
thing belonging to him, though his carpenters and coopers generally 
left their tools on shore. Other voyagers speak in. similar praise of 
their honesty. 

Forbes says, "their children, taught by the missionaries, spoke 
Spanish, and became polished by conversation." 

"With reference to their taste and skill in making ornaments, 
weapons, and utensils. La Perouse, who was here in 1786, says: "they 
wore ear-rings made of carved wood, bandeaux of feathers roimd their 
heads, and shells strung as beads around their necks and bodies. He 
describes some of these feather bandeaux as exceedingly beautiful, and 



EABLY HISTORY. 25 

as tlie product of great labor and skill. Langsdorff also notices tlie 
same articles, and says he counted in one of these bandeauz four hun- 
dred and fifty feathers from the tails of golden woodpeckers. As each 
of these birds has but two such feathers — and it is probable that every 
bird killed did not have both in perfect condition — it must have 
required much application to obain materials for such an ornament. 

Forbes credits them with extraordinary skill in the construction of 
their baskets, bows and arrows; some of the former, made of the fila- 
mentous bark of a tree, were plaited so closely as to be perfectly water- 
tight, and although made of very combustible materials, were used for 
roasting their grain before it was ground. Many of their baskets were 
ornamented with the scarlet feathers of the Oriolus phcejdceits, or with 
the black crest feathers of the mountain quail, and were really very 
handsome. 

Father Palou says the men had wooden swords, that cut almost like 
steel, and formidable clubs, as well as bows and arrows, as weapons of 
warfare. 

With reference to thehc physique, there appears to be considerable 
discrepancy between the statements of different authorities. Venegaa 
thought them "equal to any race"; Captain Eogers says, "they were tall, 
robust, and straight as pine trees;" Captain Beechey says, "they were 
generally above the standard of Englishmen, in hight." In after 
years, some of the half-breeds were quite remarkable for their hight— 
reaching nearly seven feet. 

Langsdorff, surgeon of the Eussian admiral Kotzebue's ship, which 
arrived at San Francisco in September, 1824, states that "many of 
them had full, flowing beards." La Pe'rouse also says, "about 
half the males he saw had such splendid beards that they would have 
made a figure in Turkey, or in the vicinity of Moscow. " It is a very 
remarkable fact that none of the present race of Indians have any 
beards. 

The foregoing brief outline of the condition and habits of the abori- 
gines of California, before and since their contact with the white race, 
would appear to justify the belief that they were capable of reaching a 
higher plane of civilization, than that on which they were placed by 
the missionaries. 

Eminent men of science, from England, France, Russia, and the 
TJnited States, who visited the coast, and saw the unfortunate natives 
under the mission regime, in its palmiest days, all bear witness to the 
wretched state of bodily and mental bondage in which they were held. 
Captain Beechey considered th(s method adopted by the Fathers, to 



26 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CiLIFOR^TA. 

obtain "converts," as but "little better than kidnapping." Both men 
and women were flogged, or put into the stocks, if they refused to be- 
lieve or to labor : other witnesses corroborate this statement. 

All the Indian men, except those employed as vacqueros, or herds- 
men, wore no other clothing than a coarse woolen shirt and a breech 
cloth. The vacqueros had pants and shoes, more for the sake of 
enabling them better to ride the unbroken mustangs than for decency. 
The women had a woolen chemise and petticoat, but neither shoes nor 
stockings. Both men and women were required to work in the fields 
every day, except those who were carpenters, blacksmiths, or weavers. 
None of them were taught to read or write, except a few who were 
selected to form a choir, to sing and i>lay music, for each mission. 
The only instruments were the violin and guitar. They never received 
any payment for their labor, except food, clothing, and instructions in 
the catechism. The single men and women were locked up in separate 
buildings, every night. Both sexes were severely punished with the 
whip, if they did not obey the missionaries or other white men in 
authority. The Fathers themselves wore but one garment, which 
reached from their neck to their heels; this was never washed, but was 
worn continually until worn out. 

There is no room to doubt that the degradation of the existing 
race, is in some degree, the result of the mission system, which has 
deprived them of the instincts that Nature had implanted, and left 
them no dependence but upon the will of the Fathers, which was im- 
potent to save them from extermination by the irresistible force of a 
higher civilization, in which they are unfitted to participate. 

The Spanish Government appears to have acted with much liber- 
ality towards the aborigines, and intended that they should have had 
every opportunity to become civilized. It granted them tracts of land 
for cultivation, and lots in the pueblos for homesteads. Much of the 
land on which the city of San Francisco now stands, was granted to 
partially civilized Indians, prior to the year 1820; but a higher power 
than earthly Governments had destined that site to be occupied 
by a different race. 

The most implacable Indian-hater must contemplate with astonish- 
ment, not unmixed with awe, the destruction that has overtaken the 
native Californians within the past forty years. When their country 
was first discovered, it was thickly populated with tribes, speaking a 
variety of dialects, the very names of which have been forgotten. 

Mr. Gilroy, the first foreign settler in the State, who landed at Men- 



EARLY HISTOET. 27 

terey In 1814, gives us the following yivid picture of this so-called 
mission civilization. 

Kit Carson says, when he came to California, in 1829, •'ae valleys 
were full of Indian tribes. They were thick everywhere. He saw a 
great deal of some large and flourishing tribes that then existed. When 
he went there again, in 1859, they had all disappeared, and in answer 
to inquiries about them, the people residing in the localities where he 
had seen them, told him they had never heard of them. Yount, who 
settled in Napa VaUey in 1830, says it then contained thousands of 
Indians ; it has but few now. 

No estimate appears to have been made of their number until 1823, 
when they numbered 100,826, although it was known they had already 
decreased extensively. In 1863 they were counted by the Indian De- 
partment and found to number only 29,300 men, women and children. 
It is doubtful if there are 20, 000 remaining, at the close of 1867. At 
this rate of decrease, in how few years we shall see the last of the Cali- 
fornia aborigines ! Their rapid disappearance is not to be attributed 
wholly to their contact with the white race. That mysterious law of 
Nature, which has caused the destruction of so many races of created 
beings at various epochs in the world's history, as we find recorded in 
the stony leaves of the but partially opened book of the rocks, has willed 
the end of the Indian tribes of America, as well as of the aborigines of 
other countries, and no human power can avert it. The census of the 
Cherokees, the most intelligent and best educated of all the American 
aborigines, taken in May last, exhibits a decrease of 20, 000 during the 
preceding five years. In Tasmania, New South Wales, there were but 
four of the aborigines of the country remaining in 1866. Among the 
Sandwich Islanders, where education, religion and amalgamation are 
more general than among the aborigines of any other country, the 
same law is in progress of execution. The race is rapidly passing 
away. The census of 1866 exhibits a decrease of 9, 000 during the pre- 
ceding five years, out of a population of but little more than 60, 000. 

Our Federal and State Governments have made liberal provision 
for the support of the remnant of the aboriginal Californians. The 
first State Legislature passed a law for their protection, and they are 
probably "much better off under the existing state of affairs than when 
under the rule of the missions. In most of the southern counties 
they reside on rancherias, or independent villages, where they raise a 
few cattle, sheep, and hogs, and sufficient grain, vegetables, and fruit to 
supply their own wants. In San Diego County there are twenty-eight 
rancherias, containing altogether about 2,000 natives. None of the 



28 THE NATURAL ■WE^VLTH OF CALIPOBNIA. 

otlier soutlieru counties contain as many, but there are a number of 
ranclierias in each. There are also several reservations provided by the 
United States government for the protection of those who reside in coun- 
ties in Avhich the settlers object to their locating. The Superintendents 
of these reservations report the natives residing on them as being 
cheerful, contented and obedient, performing all the labor required of 
them in a satisfactory manner. Seven hundred and fifty of them, resid- 
ing on the Tule Kiver Reservation, in 1866, cultivated and gathered a 
crop of 10,000 bushels of wheat, 50,000 pounds of barley, and a large 
quantity of vegetables ; dug a ditch five miles long, of sufficient capa- 
city to convey water to irrigate the entire reservation ; made a wagon 
road twenty-five miles in length, besides performing other less import- 
ant labors in the neighborhood. 

On the Round Valley Keservation, seven hundred of them raised 
6, 318 bushels of wheat, 1, 127 bushels of barley, 8, 000 bushels of corn, 
2,150 bushels of oats, 1,500 bushels of potatoes, besides large quanti- 
ties of vegetables, hay, etc. They also made 30,000 fence rails, with 
which they inclosed 2, 700 acres of land ; erected a barn, 70x60, with 
sheds on either side, 12x70 ; and two frame gi'anaries, 40x60 — cutting 
all the lumber for the same by hand. 

On the Hoopa Valley Eesei-vation, about six himdred of them raised 
a valuable crop of wheat and barley. 

On the Smith Eiver Eeservation, about five hundred of them raised 
sufficient to maintain themselves. 

There are other reservations in Los Angeles, Tehama, Klamath, 
Mendocino, and Fresno counties — each containing about 25,000 acres. 

The above results would seem to prove, that under judicious man- 
agement, these reservations may be made self-sustaining, while the 
Indians on them would be far more comfortable than when permitted to 
roam through portions of the State, where they can obtain subsistence 
by no other means than the charity of the inhabitants. 

Having traced the condition and characteristics of the aborigines 
of California, from their discovery by the Spaniards, till they 'fell under 
the protecting care of the United States, it will be pertinent to the sub- 
ject to make a few remarks concerning their origin, which is really the 
most remarkable chapter of their history, as well as that of Jhe State. 

The investigations of ethnologists and philologists who have studied 
the Hindoo, Chinese, and Japanese annals during the present centui-y, 
have brought to light such a chain of evidence as to place beyond 
doubt that the inhabitants of Mexico and Califoi-niaj discovered by the 
Spaniards, were of Mongolian origin. 



E.VELT HISTORY. 29 

Tliere is no real cause for surprise at such a discovery, wlien we 
remember tliat the Greeks and Komans — the compilers of our records 
of the world's early history — ^knew nothing of the countries west of the 
shores of Africa, or on the east, beyond the 120th degree of longitude 
west of Greenwich. It was not until the thirteenth century that Marco 
Polo discovered Japan, and more than a century after that event, before 
Columbus- discovered America— literally a new world to the chroniclers 
of that history. 

It was not until Magellan, on the 21st of October, 1520, made a pas- 
sage through the straits that now bear his name, that the spherical form 
of the earth was demonstrated to the savans and jjhilosophers of Europe. 
If they Imew so little about the earth itself, it is not surprising that they 
knew so little about its inhabitants, as to compel us to seek for infor- 
mation concerning the early history of the aborigines of California, in 
countries which were ancient and civilized when Eyirope was inhabited 
by savages. 

The Hindoo, Chinese, and Japanese annals all correspond in record- 
ing the fact, that about the year 1280, Genghis Kahn, a great Mongul 
Chief, whose name was a terror in Europe, at the same time, invaded 
China with hordes of barbarians from Tartary, and subjugated its 
people, whom his descendants hold in subjection at the present time. 
Having accomplished this object, he fitted out an expedition consisting 
of 240,000 men, in 4,000 ships, imder command of Kublai Kahn, one 
of his sons, for the purpose of conquering Japan. While this expedi- 
tion was on the passage between the two countries, a violent storm 
arose, which destroyed a great part of this fleet, and drove many of 
the vessels on to the coast of America. (The writings of Marco Polo 
contain much information concerning this event.) 

Grotius says, "the Peruvians were a Chinese colony, and that the 
Spaniards found at the entry of the Pacific Ocean, on coming through 
the straits of Magellan, the wrecks of Chinese vessels." 

There are proofs clear and certain, that Mango Capac, the founder of 
the Peruvian nation, was the son of Kublai Kahn, the commander of 
this expedition, and that the ancestors of Montezuma, of Mexico, who 
were from Assam, arrived about the same time. 

But for the fanaticism of the Spanish priests, who destroyed all the 
Mexican records, when Cortes captured the city, there would be less 
obscurity on this interesting subject than exists at present. 

Every custom of the Mexicans, described by their Spanish conquer- 
ors, proves their Asiatic origin. They had no written language, but kept 
tlieir records by means of quipos— bundles of strings, with knots of 



30 THE NATUBAL WEALTH OF CiLIFOENIA. 

various colors — precisely similar to those used by tlie Chinese at that 
period. Their ceremonies — civil, military and religious— their music, 
weapons, names of their deities, food, ornaments, toys, their system of 
notation, and method for calculating time, their agricultural implements 
— even to the making of adobes — all were identical with those of China. 

The strange hieroglyj^hics found in so many places in Mexico, and 
from California to Canada, are all of Mongolian origin. Similar figures 
exist in Sibei-ia, at Nepaul, in India, and in Thibet, which are known 
to have been made by the Mongolians. They were the usual signs 
made by that race to mark their subjugation of a country. Humboldt, 
many years ago, conjectured that these hieroglyphics were of Tartar 
origin. It is now positively known that they are. 

But, by far the most interesting feature of these recent revelations 
about the ancient history of California and Mexico, is the strange fact 
that many of the Tartar invaders of these countries were Christians. 

We have already shown the connection between the ancient Pera- 
vians and Mexicans, and we must again refer to this connection to trace 
this fact. It is recorded by Vega, the best historian of Peru, that 
among the booty obtained by the Spaniards from the palace of the 
Incas, was a beautiful jasper, or marble cross, highly j)olished, three 
fourths of an ell in length, and three fingers in breadth, which was 
kept in the sacred chamber of the palace, and held in great veneration. 
(Vega — vol. ii: chap. 3.) 

To account for this extraordinary discovery : Marco Polo says, there 
were many Nestorians in the service of Genghis Kalin, and it is prob- 
able that in the expedition sent to conquer Japan, a part of the troops 
were commanded by Nestorian officers. The mother of Kublia Kahn's 
brother, (the Kahns had many wives), who was uncle to Mango Capac — 
the first Inca of Peru — was a Christian. It is known that she had in 
her employ an English goldsmith of great skill, named "William Bou- 
chier, Avho made many of the gold and silver articles which fell into 
the hands of the Spaniards. 

Humboldt refers to the Mexicans having some confused idea of 
Christianity — the origin of such ideas is here explained. 

The New York Herald, in November, 1866, contains a communica- 
tion fi'om Mexico, concerning a discovery made by a person named 
Lyon, about three hundred miles to the north-east of Jalapa, of ruins 
of Christian places of worship, which had been abandoned before the 
conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. Among these mins were foimd 
a statuette of a man, with the emblems of Christianity — the cross, 
lamb, etc. — carefully carved. 



EAELT HISTORY. 31 

Grixalva, vrho was in Yucatan in 1518, states that there were many 
great stone crosses in the country at that time, and that the people 
worshipped them. The Spaniards, under Cortez, found many such 
crosses in Mexico. 

In the Odd Fellows' libraiy at San Francisco, there is an old book, 
published at Loraine, in 1579, which contains many strange stories 
aboiit this country — then called Quivera. This curious book, written 
in Latin, contains the following remarkable passage, when referring to 
the efforts made at that time to find the straits of Anian : "The sol- 
diers of Vasquirus Coronatus, having found no gold in Vivola, in order 
not to return to Mexico without gold, resolved to come to Quivera 
(California) ; for they had heard much of its gold mines, and that Tatar- 
raxus, the powerful king of Quivera, was amply provided with riches, 
worshipped the Savior's cross, and the memory of the Holy Virgin. " 

In the museum at St. Petersburg, there is a great collection of 
gold, silver, copper, and stone articles, obtained from the tumuli of 
the ancient Moguls, in Siberia, which are identical in design, work- 
manship, and materials, to similar articles found under like circum- 
stances in Peru, Mexico, and California. 

The observations of the expedition to Alaska, in 1867, revealed the 
fact that the inhabitants of the Alutian islands are of unquestionable 
Mongolian or Japanese origin — thus substituting verity for conjecture 
as to the probable origin of the aborigines of the Pacific coast. 

The curious casas grandes, or large stone houses which are known 
to exist near Culiacan, Mexico, and along the Gila river, the cause of 
so much astonishment to all Americans who had seen them, are the 
very counterparts of buildings erected by Mongolians in Thibet, 
where they remain at the present time. 

The armor belonging to Montezuma, which was obtained by Cortez, 
and is now in the museum at Madrid, is known to be of Asiatic manu- 
facture, and to have belonged to one of Kublai Kahn's generals. 

We could furnish an almost endless number of facts to support the 
belief, that the Indians whom the Spaniards found in California, were of 
Asiatic origin; but, as our work is not published as a history, we are 
compelled to restrict our remarks on this point. "We hope, however, 
that we have furnished sufficient detail to excite the interest of the 
reader in the subject. 

The Chinese, who have become so numerous in California since the 
discovery of gold, bear a striking resemblance to the Indians, and are 
known to be able to converse with them, in their respective languages, 
to an extent that cannot be the residt of mere coincidence of expres- 



32 



THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CAXIFORNU. 



sion. This also furnislies a strong confirmation of wliat we have stated 
above. 

In 1857, a gentleman named Henley — a good Chinese scholar, who 
acted as interpreter in the courts of this State for some time — pub- 
lished a list of words in the Chinese and Indian languages to sliow 
that they were of the same origin. From this list we make an extract 
as supporting our remarks : 



Indian. 


CUnese. 


Englieli. 


Indian. 


Chinese, 


English. 


Nang-a. 


Nang. 


Han. 


A-pa. 


A-pa. 


Father. 


Yi-Boo. 


Soa. 


Hand. 


A- ma. 


A-ma. 


Mother. 


Keoka. 


Keok. 


Foot. 


Ko-le. 


A-ko. 


Brother. 


Aek-a-soo. 


Soo. 


Beard. 


Ko-chae. 


To-ehae. 


Thanks. 


Yuel^a. 


Yuet 


Moon. 


Ngam. 


Yam. 


Dmnk. 


Yeeta. 


Yat 


Sun. 


Koolae. 


Ku-kay. 


Her. 


trtyta. 


Hoto. 


Much. 


Koo-chue. 


Chue-koo, 


Hog. 


Lee.lum. 


Ee-lung. 


Deafness. 


Clioo Kjjo. 


KoMf-chi. 


Dog. 


Ho-ya-pa. 


Ho-ah. 


Good. 









Ti-yam, in the Indian language, is night. Ti-yam, in the Chinese, 
means the God of the moon, or night. Hee-ma, in Indian, is the Sun. 
Hee-ma, in Chinese, means the God of the Sun, or day. Wallae is a 
word commonly used among the Indians to designate a friend ; it also 
means man. Walla, in the Hindostanee, means a man. Numbers of 
other words could be given, but the above are sufficient for our 
pui-pose. "Alta," the prefix which distinguishes Upper from Lower 
California, is a word of Mongolian origin, signifyimg gold. 

In 1813 the British brig Forester, bound from London, England, to 
the Columbia Kiver, fell in with a dismasted Japanese junk of about 
seven hundred tons burden, some one himdred and fifty miles o£f this 
coast, near Queen Charlotte's Island. There were three j^ersons on 
board of her alive, who stated they had been eighteen months drifting 
about, during which time they had been in sight of the American con- 
tinent, but were di-iven off by the winds and currents. In 1833, another 
Japanese junk drifted into the harbor of one of the Hawaiian Islands, 
having four of her crew alive, after being at sea for eleven months. 

The early settlers in Oregon found the remains of a Chinese junk 
imbedded in the mud of the Columbia Biver, several miles from the 
coast. The Indians had a tradition about this jiink — that it came 
"filled with strange men," many years previously, but nobody knew 
whence they came, or where they went. 

These instances of Chinese and Japanese vessels reaching this coast 
so recently, is certainly a proof that they may have done so iu earlier 



EABLT HISTOBT. 33 

times ; as both China and Japan had larger fleets of vessels in those 
days than at present. 

THE EAELY SETTLEBS. 

The advent of settlers, independent of the missions- -the connect- 
ing links between the past and present civilization — ^furnishes material 
for an exceedingly romantic and interesting chapter of the early his- 
tory of California. 

Who would not like to know the nationality and name of the first 
adventurer whose eyes beheld the blue waters of San Francisco's noble 
bay, breaking over its sandy, crescent-shaped beach, now covered 
with long lines of stately structures — the seat of a commerce world- 
wide in extent ; and of him who first, on some autumn eve, after the 
early rains had fallen, climbed the russet hills, and beheld the 
unequalled landscape that surrounds it, then so silent, now the center 
of so much activity ? Was he some bold mariner cast away on the 
dreary coast, seeking food and shelter, or some wandering trapper from 
the western wilds, who had traversed the broad continent in search of 
peltries to barter for powder and lead ? Unfortunately, there were no 
records kept of such "pathfinders, " through whose enterprise and energy 
the world first heard of the natural wealth of California. It was they 
who spread abroad the stories about the beauty of scenery, fertility of 
soil, salubrity of climate, and abundance of game in this, then unknown 
country, which excited the curiosity of the bold frontiersmen of the 
west, and of the venturesome merchant of the north, which led to the 
settlement of the country by the Anglo-Saxon race. 

At first, like the few plashing drops which precede the refreshing 
rain that falls in spring time, imparting vigor and beauty to the pro- 
ducts of the earth, these wanderers appear on the scene. Received by 
the secluded missionaries as premonitions of a civilization opposed to 
that growing so rankly on the virgin eoil, every means were used to 
keep their influence out of the mission folds; but, little by little, their 
numbers increased, until the few spattering drops became a shower, 
and the shower a deluge, which ultimately overwhelmed both missions 
and missionaries, and planted a new race, with more progressive insti- 
tutions in their places. 

How new the country seems, when we consider that there are men 
stUl living among us, hale and vigorous, who have stood face to face 
with those who first planted the standard of Christian civilization on its 
soil. Yet, how mature it is, when measured by its commerce, arts and 
manufactxires, the order of its government, and refinement of its society. 
3 



34 THE NATUEAL ■WE.iLTH OP CALIFOIINIA. 

To explain the causes wliicli led the first citizens of tlie United 
States into the territory now forming the State of California, it is neces- 
sary to refer to the following events in the early history of the Pacific 
coast : 

Vitus Bering, a Dane, was employed in the year 1728, by the Em- 
press Catharine, of Russia, to explore the northwest coast of America 
and Asia, for the pm-pose of finding a connection between the Pacific 
and Atlantic oceans, which was supposed to exist, but had not, at that 
time, been found. It was on this voyage that he discovered the straits 
which bear his name, and settled all doubts on that question. The 
skins of otters, sables, beavers, and other rare animals, which Bering 
collected on this coast during the voyage, and lay at the feet of the 
Empress on his return, were so valuable, and the abundance of the ani- 
mals that produced them was represented to be so great, that the dis- 
covery excited the curiosity of the capitalists, navigators, and adven- 
turers of Europe, and several nations established settlements on the 
Pacific Coast, for the purpose of collecting these valuable furs. The 
Russians selected the territory recently ceded by them to the United 
States. The Russian American Fur Company was organized in 1799, 
with power to hunt all over that territory. Sitka was founded in 1805, 
by this company. The Austrians and Danes were their neighbors for 
many years. The English soon followed. In 1784, a company was 
organized in London, called the King George's Sound Company, for 
the purpose of making a settlement on this coast, and trading for furs. 
Several ships belonging to that company arrived between 1780 and 1790. 
The English East India Company also sent several of their ships here 
between 1784 and 1790. About the year 1790, vessels from the United 
States began to make their appearance on the coast of the Pacific, in 
search of furs. As early as 1784, Thomas Jefi'erson, then acting as 
United States Minister to the Court of Prance, had become deeply 
interested in the subject, from reports of the country made by John 
Ledyard, a native of Connecticut, who had been on the coast with 
Captain Cook, the celebrated English navigator. Jefferson engaged 
this John Ledyard to make a joui-ney through the Islands along 
Nootka Sound, for the purpose of obtaining accurate information of 
the country. The Russians, being made aware of Jefierson's objecf^ 
had Ledyard arrested on the 24th of February, 1788, while making 
explorations on the borders of what is now Washington Territoiy. 

On June 5th, 1791, the ship Columbia, from Boston, (Mass.), com- 
manded by Captain Robert Gray, arrived on this coast, at a jalace 
called Clyoquot, near the entrance to the straits of Fuca, and traded 



EAELY HISTOET. 35 

up and do-wn the coast during the following spring and summer. It 
was while on one of these trading excursions, to buy furs from the 
Indians, that Captain Gray, on the 7th of May, 1792, discovered the 
Columbia river, which he named after his ship, the first that ever 
sailed up its stream. The report of this discovery, and the valuable 
coUeetion of furs Captain Gray brought from this country to Boston, 
created considerable excitement ; and a number of expeditions were 
planned for making a settlement on this coast. 

In 1810, the ship Albatross, from Boston, commanded by Captain 
Smith, arrived with a number of hunters and trappers, who landed 
and formed a settlement at a place called Oak Point, on the south 
bank of the Columbia river, about forty miles from its mouth, where 
they established a trading post, which was the first settlement of 
Americans on the Pacific Coast. 

In 1810, the Pacific Fur Company was organized at New York 
under the leadership of John Jacob Astor ; and in 1811, Astoria, 
Oregon, was founded by this Company, at the place where it stands at 
the present time. It was soon after captured by the British, who 
drove all the Americans out of the country. Many of these managed 
to find their way into California. One of the most successful of these 
pioneer California fur-traders, was Captain "William Sturgis, who, in 
some half-dozen voyages, between Boston and the California coast, 
between 1800 and 1812, realized so large a fortune as to become one of 
the richest merchants in the city of Boston. He died at Boston, in 
1864, aged seventy-five, and left property valued at three millions of 
dollars. 

From 1813 until 1822, there were no Americans on the Pacific coast, 
except those connected with these trading posts, or deserters from ves- 
sels that visited them. 

The following sketch of the "California trade" in those early days, 
will be interesting. Prom 1825 until 1834, the whole of this trade was 
in the hands of a few Boston merchants. A voyage to this coast and 
back, during that time, was an enterprise of very uncertain dura- 
tion, generally occupying two or three years. The outward cargo, 
which usually consisted of groceries and coarse cotton goods, had to 
be retailed to the missionaries and settlers, as there were no "job- 
bers " in those times, and neither newspapers, telegraphs, nor stages, 
through which to inform customers of the ship's arrival. The crew 
had to travel all over the country to convey the news, which occu- 
pied considerable time. It was this portion of their duties that 
caused so many of them to desert their ships. They saw so much of the 



36 THE NATUTwVL WEiVLTn OF CALIFOEXIA. 

country, became so cliarmed with tlie freedom, ease, and plenty, that 
prevailed everywhere, that they preferred to remain on shore. Each 
of these vessels generally brought several young men as adventurers, 
who worked their passage out for the privilege of remaining. Many of 
the early settlers, whose children are now among the wealthiest citi- 
zens in the State, came to California in this manner. It was in one of 
these California hide-ships, the Alert, that R. H. Dana served his 
"two years before the mast," in 1835 and '36, in the book concerning 
which, he gives some interesting scraps of information of early Cali- 
fornia society. 

The outward cargo being disposed of, the homeward one had to be 
procured. Sometimes, when the season had been too dry, or too wet 
for the lazy vacqueros to drive the cattle into the missions to kill, 
there were no hides or tallow to be had. On such occasions the vessel 
was obliged to remain tUl the next season, when a sufficient number of 
cattle would be slaughtered to pay for the goods purchased, as there 
was no "currency" used in the country, except hides and tallow. 

It was rough travelling in California, in those days, there being no 
places for the traveller to obtain food or shelter, except at the missions. 
In 1822, there was neither bread, butter, fruit, nor vegetables, to bo 
had at Monterey, the capital of the territory. In fact, there was not a 
hotel or public table in the whole country, when it came into the pos- 
session of the United States ia 1846. San Diego, being the general 
depot for this trade, where the hides and tallow collected from all the 
o'^her missions along the coast were stored until a vessel was ready to 
leave, it was necessary to make several trips up and down the coast 
befc e the cargo could be collected. As there was no lumber or bar- 
rels to be had, the tallow was enclosed in green hides, sewn up in 
packages of one hundred and fifty to seven hundred pounds in weight, 
according to the size of the hide. 

A number of stragglers from the Hudson Bay, and other compa- 
nies — men of all nationalities — ^had found their way into California 
before 1812, and caused considerable trouble to the missionaries, by 
taking the best looking squaws for housekeepers. 

It is known that several of the crew of Vancouver's ship deserted, 
while that celebrated navigator lay at anchor in the harbor of Mon- 
terey, in 1793. These men lived among the Indians for a number of 
years. 

In 1803, the American ship Alexander, Captain John Brown, and 
the Aser, Captain Thomas Eaben, entered the harbor of San Fran- 



EAELY HISTORY. 37 

CISCO, and increased tlie number of settlers by deserters from theii 
crews. Captain Brown, of the Alexander, it appears, had lived among 
the natives for several years before his arrival on that occasion, and 
had caused so much trouble to the missionaries and military author- 
ities at San Diego, in 1803, by contraband trading, that he was denied 
permission to remain in the harbor, longer than was necessary to ob- 
tain a supply of wood and water. These were the first American 
vessels that entered the Golden Gate, but not the first that had visited 
California. Captaiu Cleveland, on board the brig Delia Byrd, of 
Salem, (Mass.,) arrived at San Diego on the 17th of March, 1803. 

In 1807, the ship Juno, of Ehode Island, which had been purchased 
by the Russians at Sitka, arrived at San Francisco, having on board 
Count Von Eesenoff, ambassador from that country to Japan. This 
individual remained several weeks in California, and became so 
charmed with the country and its inhabitants, that he made arrange- 
ments for founding a colony of Russians in what is now Sonoma 
county, and engaged to marry the Donna Coneepcion Arguello, the 
beautiful daughter of the Spanish commandante at San Francisco ; but, 
being accidentally killed in Siberia, while on his way to Eussia to ob- 
tain the Emperor's permission to settle in California, the marriage 
never took place. The beautiful donna, on learning the fate of her 
lover, renounced the world, became a Sister of Mercy, and devoted 
her life to alleviating the sufferings of the sick, and educating the 
children of the poor, until she died at Benicia, in 1860. The death of 
Count Von Eesenoff also deferred the establishment of the colony t'll 
the year 1812, when one hundred Eussians, and one hundred Korliac 
Indians, arrived from Sitka and settled on a spit of land, about t lirty 
miles from the shore of Bodega Bay, in latitude 38^ 18' — fifty-eight 
miles north-west from San Francisco. They came for the purpose of 
catching seal, otter, beaver, and other animals, the fur of which was 
very valuable; and the animals that produced them abounded on all 
the rivers and creeks on the coast at that time. They were unwelcome 
guests to the missionaries and Mexican Government, but appear to 
have ingratiated themselves into favor with the Indians, a great many 
of whom they employed trapping and hunting, and cultivating the land 
around their fort. 

In 1820, they formed another settlement on the river Sebastian, 
forty miles north of Bodega, which they named Slawianska; Fort Eoss, 
as it was. called by the settlers ; or Mount Eoss, as it is known at 
present. They also had a settlement on the Farralones. In 1841, 
these settlements contained eight hundred Eussians, and nearly two 



X 



38 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOKNU. 

tliousand Indians. They exported a large number of skins, and con- 
siderable quantities of grain and meat to tlie Kussian settlements at 
Sitka. 

In 1835, tlie British Government, which had ali-eady begim to make 
arrangements for the acquisition of California, made objections to 
these Hussian settlements on Mexican soil ; and, as the Mexican au- 
thorities appeared to be unable or imwilling to molest them, called 
upon the United States Government to require their removal, in com- 
pliance with the stipulations of a treaty made between Russia and the 
United States in April, 1824, by which Eussia was bound to prevent 
its subjects forming settlements at any point south of latitude 50"^ 40'. 
It was in compliance with a request from the United States Govern- 
ment, that the Russians left California in 1841. They sold all ■ theii 
real and personal property to General Sutter, taking pa_yment in wheat 
and meat, as required by the settlement at Sitka. Among the per- 
sonal property thus acquired by Sutter, were 2000 cattle, 1000 horses, 
50 mtdes, 2500 sheep, and a number of brass guns, one of which, now 
preserved in the museum of the Pioneer Association of San Francisco, 
rendered important service during the w^ar for the conquest of Cali- 
fornia. 

The first permanent settler in California, of whom we have any 
record, was John Gilroy, a Scotchman, who was landed from an 
English ship belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, which put into 
Monterey for supplies, in 1814. Gilroy, at that time a youth of 
eighteen, Avas so sick with the scurvy that he was left ashore, to save 
his life. It was six years after the ship that brought him had left, 
before another entered the harbor of Monterey, except a pirate from 
Buenos Ayres, which arrived in 1819, captured the fort, destroyed the 
guns, plundered the inhabitants, and biu-nt the town. Gilroy, who is 
still living at the thriving town which has .sprung up within a few miles 
of his homestead, in the beautifiil Santa Clara valley, about thii-ty 
miles from San Jose, says there were not half a dozen foreign settlers 
in the whole country at that time, except the Russians, at Bodega, and 
only eight ranches belonging to Mexican settlers, between San Fran- 
cisco and Los Angeles. Monterey contained but six houses, besides 
the presidio ; San Jose contained about twenty. There was no foreign 
trade, except once a year a Spanish vessel took a cargo of tallow to 
Callao. Hides had not begun to be of any value, as the American 
traders did not commence to buy them until about 1820. There was 
not a flour mill in the coimtry; the wheat intended for flour was gi-ound 
in rade stone mortal's, or metaies. There was not a vehicle, from San 



EAELY HISTOKY. 39 

Francisco to San Diego, tliat had wheels with spokes. All the lumber 
required for any purpose was hewn with axes by the Indian carpen- 
ters — ^but, as nobody except the Governor or missionaries had wooden 
floors or doors to their houses, nor chairs, nor tables, it did not 
require much lumber to supply the demand. The missionaries owned 
the whole country, and controlled all its inhabitants. The Indians 
did all the work required, as blacksmiths, carpenters and weavers. 
Potatoes were unknown ; a few cabbages and other vegetables were 
cultivated, on some of the missions, as luxuries. The natives at the 
missions lived entirely on boiled wheat, maize, and beef, seasoned with 
Chili peppers and salt. Poor Gilroy, like so many other pioneer sett- 
lers who owned miles of fertile land when California became a State in 
the American Union, is now penniless, living in the same old adobe 
house he built before an American citizen had set his foot in the terri- 
tory. Improvidence, and want of experience in the ways of the money 
lender, have ruined nearly all of the old settlers. 

In 1818, Antonio M. Sunol, whose name is for ever connected with 
a charming valley in the coast range, arrived at Monterey, and resided 
in California until March 18th, 1865, when he died, near San Jose, at 
the age of sixty-eight. This worthy old pioneer, and his friend 
General Sutter, are fine specimens of the generous, refined and chival- 
rous adventurers of a nearly extinct type, whose histories show what 
an active part such men play in the drama of life. Though born at 
Barcelona, in Spain, he was in the naval service of France, and was 
present when Napoleon the Great surrendered as a prisoner, before 
the hero's exile to St. Helena. 

In 1821, F. W. Macondray, the founder of one of the most exten- 
sive and substantial mercantile firms on the Pacific Coast, arrived at 
Monterey, from Chili, on board the ship Pmxllier, and was so impressed 
by the beauty and fertility of the country that, in 1850, he brought 
out his family, and settled at San Francisco, where his sons are at 
present, among its wealthiest merchants. 

In May, 1822, W. E. P. Hartnell, an Englishman — the first inspector 
and translator of the Mexican archives, for the United States Govern- 
ment — arrived at Monterey ; in August of the same year, "VV. A. 
Kichardson, an Englishman, who became the first Harbor Master, 
landed at San Francisco. 

In May, 1823, J. B. E. Cooper, a half-brother of Thos. O. Larkin, 
arrived at Monterey, from Boston, (Mass.,) and soon after married a 
sister of M. G. Vallejo, a prominent native Californian of pure Cas- 
tilian descent. 



40 THE NATUKAL 'WEALTH OF CALTFOKNIA. 

General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, -who took an active part in 
placing California in possession of the United States, was born at 
Monterey, July 7th, 1S08, and is the oldest living Spanish settler in the 
State. Having held several important oflBces under the Mexican Gov- 
ernment, he was dissatisfied with its rulers, and became one of the 
most active leaders of the native Californian party which favored the 
annexation of the country to the United States. Being one of the 
best educated of his class, and speaking English fluently, he was able 
to render much service to the Government in the conquest and settle- 
ment of the territory. 

The following is an illustration of General Vallejo's ser\'ices, in 
favor of annexation to the United States. In 1846, when the subject 
of annexation to England was discussed before the Departmental 
Assembly at Santa Barbara, and Pio Pico, the Governor, after reviling 
the United States and praising the monarchies of Europe, proposed to 
unite with England, General Vallejo, in the course of his reply to the 
Governor, said : * 

"We are republicans ; badly governed and badly sitnated as -wo arc, still we are all, in 
sentiment, republicans. So far as we are governed at all, we at least profess to be self-gov- 
erned. "Who, then that professes true patriotism will consent to subject himself and chil- 
dren to the caprices of a foreign Mng and his official minions ? My opinion is, I will men- 
tion it plainly and distinctly, annexation to the United States is our only security. Why 
should we shrink from incorporating ourselves with the happiest and freest nation in the 
world, destined soon to be the most wealthy and powerful 1 When we join our fortunes with 
hers, we shall not become subjects, but fellow-citizens, possessing all the rights of the people 
of the United States. Look not, therefore, with jealousy upon the hardy pioneers who scale 
our mountains, and cultivate our unoccupied plains ; but rather welcome them as brothers 
who come to share with us a common destiny." 

In a few months after this meeting, California was in. possession of 
the United States. 

About the time of the arrival of Mr. Cooper, quite a respectable 
trade had sprung up for hides, tallow, grain, wine, and other products 
of the missions. In 1822, an English firm at Lima, (Peru, ) established 
a branch of their house at Monterey, which was the first mercantile 
house opened on the coast. The annual exports, for several years, 
had averaged 30,000 hides, 7000 quintals of tallow, 200 bales of furs, 
and about 1, 000 bushels of wheat, besides a few cargoes shipped to 
Sitka, from the Kussian settlements at Bodega. 

In 1820, numerous hunters and trappers from the west, while wan- 
dering in search of the posts on the Columbia river, found their way 
across the Sierra Nevada, into California. 

The valleys of the Tulare, San Joaquin, and Sacramento, in those 



EAELT mSTOET. 41 

days abounded -witli beaver, otter, and other animals, whose pelts were 
highly prized by these trappers, who had become so numerous in 1821 
and 1822, as to produce quite a revenue to the Mexican Government, 
which charged them a license for the privilege of hunting. It was 
from some of these California trappers whom General Sutter met in 
New Mexico, in 1834, that he first heard of the beauty of the valley of 
the Sacramento, on which he settled in August, 1839. 

Many of the oldest settlers in the State at present, or who have 
died within the past year or two, came to California as trappers. The 
a\jnerican Eiver takes its name from a company of western trappers . 
who lived on its banks for several years, between 1822 to 1830. 
Trench Camp, or Castoria, as it used to be called, near Stockton, San 
Joaquin County, was located by a company of trappers employed by 
the Hudson Bay Company, who encamped there from 1829 tUl 1838. y 

III 1827, John Temple, a native of Eeading, (Mass.,) arrived at San i/ 
Francisco, from the Sandwich Islands. The career of this gentleman 
so forcibly illustrates the material of which the early pioneers of Cali- 
fornia were composed, that we give an outline of his history. A mer- 
chant at Los Angeles xmtil 1848, he then commenced the business of 
stock-raising, to meet the increasiag demand for cattle, the extraordi- 
nary accession to the population created. In a few years he became 
the owner of many thousands of cattle and horses — such men never do 
things by halves. He next tried his hand as a builder, and the City 
Hall, Court House, and Temple Block, at Los Angeles, are monu- 
ments of his labors in this line. He next leased a Government mint in 
Mexico, and went into the coining business, in which he literally 
"made money." Like all the early settlers, Mr. Temple (in 1830) 
married a California lady. He died at San Francisco, in June, 
1866. 

In February, 1829, Alfred Eobinson arrived at Monterey, on board '^ 
the ship BrooMine, from Boston, as agent for the house of Bryant & 
Sturgis. In 1836, this gentleman married the daughter of Jose de la 
Guerra, at Santa Barbara, and returned to Boston in 1837. In 1849, 
IMr. Bobinson came back to California, and settled at San Francisco, as 
the first agent of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. 

Abel Stearnes came to Monterey, from Mexico, in July, 1829, for 
the purpose of locating a grant of land he had received from the Mex- 
ican Government. Failing in this colonization project, he went to Los 
Angeles, where he has since resided and amassed a fortune. 

J. J. Sparks, who died at Santa Barbara in June, 1867, came to 
California as a trapper in 1830. 



42 THE NATUKAL WE.ULTH OF CAIITOKOTA. 

George C. Tount, the first settler in Napa Valley, after wandering 
as a trapper and hunter through the valleys of the Platte, Ai-kansas, 
Green, Colorado, Mojave and Sacramento, in 1830 reached the beauti- 
ful place where he settled and ended his days, surrounded by as much 
refinement and social cultivation as if all his days had been spent in 
what the world calls society. His neighbor, Nathan Coombs, the 
famous ranchero of that valley, did not arrive in California till 1843. 

J. J. Warner, Esq., the well known viniculturist, and Federal Asses- 
sor of Los Angeles, was a trapper on the Sacramento Eiver in 1831. 
Trapping for beaver and otter was carried on, on the Sacramento and 
San Joaquin Eivers, until 1845. Captain Merritt had a large party of 
trappers on the Sacramento in that year. 

The name of one of these early trappers, Jedediah S. Smith, has 
been mixed up with a number of stories of a very contradictory char- 
acter, but each vouched for as correct by gentlemen deserving belief. 
The late Edmund Eandolph, in a famous oration delivered before the 
Pioneer Association of California, credits Smith with beiug the fijst 
vv'hite man who crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains. 

We have been at considerable trouble to unravel these various 
stories, and have gathered the following particulars from those who 
knew Smith personally, and shared his perils, and from documents in 
the State archives. 

The first of the trappers in the coimtry west of the Eocky Moun- 
tains was W. H. Ashley, of St. Louis, who left the Missouri Eiver in 
1823, and is supposed to have reached the Sierra Nevada mountains in 
that year. In 1824 he discovered Salt Lake, and built a fort and sta- 
tion there, between which and the Missouri Eiver, loaded wagons 
passed as early as 1828. In 1826, Ashley sold his interest to this 
Jedediah S. Smith, Jackson, and Sublette, who formed the American 
Eur Company. 

In 1824, this Company was organized at St. Louis, (]Mo.) It im- 
mediately sent out several parties, to trap or hunt in the country west 
of the Eocky Mountains. In the spring of 1825, Smith, who was at 
the head of this Company, with a party of foi-ty traj^pers and Indians, 
left their rendezvous on the Green Eiver, near the South Pass, and 
pushed their way westward, crossing the Sierra Nevada into the Tulare 
Valley, which they reached in July, 1825. The party trapped for 
beaver, and other animals, from the Tulare to the American fork of 
the Sacramento, where there was already a camp of American trappers. 
Smith established his camp near the site of the present town of 
Eolsom, about twenty-two miles north-east from the other party. 



EAELY HISTORY. 43 

From this camp Smith sent out parties, in several directions, -wliich 
were so successful that, in October, leaving all the others in California, 
in company with two of the party he returned to his rendezvous on 
Green River, with several bales of skins. His partners were so pleased 
at the success of the first expedition that in May, 1826, Smith was sent 
back with a considerable re-inforcement. On this trip, he led his 
party further south than on the former one, which brought them into 
the Mohave settlements on the Colorado, where all the party, except 
Smitlx and two companions named Galbraith and Turner, were killed 
by the Indians. These three made their way to the mission of San 
Gabriel, on the 26th of December, 1826, where they were arrested on 
suspicion of being spies or filibusteros, and sent to the Presidio at San 
Diego, where they were examined by General Echandia, the com- 
mandante of the territory. It was not until several Americans, who 
were then at San Francisco, certified that Smith and his companions 
were hunters and trappers, that they were permitted to purchase horses 
and provisions, to proceed to the camp at Folsom. 

The following is a verbatim copy of this curious certificate : 

"We, the undersigned, having been requested by Capt. Jedediah S. Smith to state our 
opinions regarding hie entering the Profince of California, do not hesitate to say that we 
have no doubt but that he was compelled to, for want of provisions and water, having entered 
BO far into the barren country that lies between the latitudes of forty-two and forty-three 
west that he found it impossible to return by the route he came, as hia horses had most of 
them perished for want of food and water; he was therefore under the necessity of pushing 
forward to California — it being the nearest place where he coiild procure supplies to enable 
him to return. 

"We further state as our opinions, that the account given by him is circumstantially cor- 
rect, and that his sole object was the hunting and trapping of beaver, and other furs. 

' ' Wg have also examined the passports produced by him from the Superintendent of 
Indian affairs for the Government of the United States of America, and do not hesitate to say 
we believe them perfectly correct. 

"We also state that, in our opinion, his motives for wishing to pass, by a different route 
to the Columbia Kiver, on his return is solely because he feels convinced that he and his 
companions run great risk of perishing if they return by the route they came. 

"In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals, this 20th day of De- 
cember, 1826. 

" WILLIAM G. DANA, Captain of schooner Waverly. 
" WILLL4.M H. CUfWrN'GHAM, Captain of ship Courier. 
" WILLIAM HENDEESON, Captain of brig Olive Branclu 
" JAMES SCOTT, 

" THOMAS M. KOBBIN'S, Mate of schooner Waverly. 
" THOMAS SHAW, Supercargo of ship Courier." 

In the summer of 1827, Smith and all his party, (except Galbraith 
and Turner, who settled in California,) left the Sacramento valley, 
with the intention of reaching the settlements on the Columbia river. 
They reached the mouth of the Umpqua riAier, near Cape Arago, 



44 THE NATUB.\L WEALTH OF CALTFOEXU.. 

■n-lien the party were sm-prisecl by Indians, and all killed, except Smith 
and two Irislimen named Eiclaard Laughlin and Daniel Prior. These, 
after terrible sufferings, reached Fort Vancouver, where they were 
kindly received. Smith, soon after, returned to St. Louis, and his 
companions went to Los Angeles, California., where they resided for 
several years. 

Another version of the story is, that Smith returned from Fort 
Vancouver to the place where the party were killed, accompanied by a 
strong force of men in the service of the Hudson Bay Company, who, 
meeting no Indians on the way, went with him as far as the Sacra- 
mento valley, where they established a camp near the junction of the 
American and Feather Eivers, which was, during the first season, 
under command of a Scotchman named McLeod. This was the first 
party of Hudson Bay trappers known to have been in California. 

Thomas Sprague, an old resident of California, in a letter to the 
Hon. Edmund Eandolph, dated ' ' Genoa^ (Washoe, ) Sept. 18th, 1860, " 
states that Smith was the chief trader in the employ of the American 
Fur Company, at its rendezvous on the Green Eiver, in 1825 ; and in 
that year was sent, with a party of trappers, to hunt in the countiy 
west of Salt Lake. It was during tha,t trij) that he discovered the 
Humboldt Eiver, which he called the Mary, in compliment to his 
Indian wife. This river is still kno-mi as the Mary, by the old hunters 
in Utah. It was always called by that name till Fremont changed 
it in 1846. Traveling west from the Humboldt, he crossed the 
Sierra Nevada, at a point near the head of the Truckee river, and went 
down the Sacramento Valley, and as far south as San Jose and San 
Diego, and obtained horses and supplies to return. Coming back, he 
crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains, by what is now known as 
"Walker's Pass, and discovered Mono Lake, between which and Salt 
Lake he found j)lacer gold, of which they took a considerable quantity 
to the rendezvous of the company on Green Eiver, or Sidskadee, one 
of the head waters of the Colorado. This gold, and the large quantity 
of furs brought by the party, so pleased the agent of the company, that 
Smith was directed to retui-n to the place where the gold was found, 
and thoroughly prospect the country. Sprague states that it was on 
this second trip that Smith wrote the letter to Father Duran, of the 
San Gabriel Mission, which Mr. Eandolph read at the celebration of 
the Pioneers at San Francisco, in 1860, and which is still preserved. 
The following is a copy of this letter : 

"Retekenb Fathee : — I understand, through the medium of one of your Christian 
Indians, that you are ansdous to know who we are — as Bome of the Indians have been at 



EAELY HISTORY. 45 

the mission and informed you that there were certain -white people in the country. We are 
Americans, on our journey to the Kiver Columbia. We were in at the Mission San Gabriel, 
in January last. I -went to San Diego and saw the General, and got a passport from him to 
pass on to that place. I have made several efforts to pass the mountains, but the snows 
being so deep, I could not succeed in getting over. I returned to this place — it being the 
only point to kUl meat — to wait a few weeks until the snow melts, so that I can go on. 
The Indians here also being friendly, I consider it the most safe point for me to remain until 
such time as I can cross the mountains with my horses — ^having lost a great many in 
attempting to cross ten or fifteen days since. I am a long ways from home, and am anxious 
to get there as soon as the nature of the ease will admit. Our situation is quite unpleasant 
— being destitute of clothing and most of the necessaries of life, wild meat being our prin- 
cipal subsistence. I am, Beverend Father, your strange but real Mend, and Christian. 
"May 19th, 1827. J, S. SMITa" 

Mr. Sprague says, tlie party reached the place where the gold wag 
found, when, in a battle with the Indians, Smith, and nearly all his 
party were Mlled. Greenhow, in his "History of Oregon and Califor- 
nia, " says Smith was killed by the Indians northwest of Utah Lake, in 
1829. Both Sprague and Greenhow were evidently misinformed on the 
subject, as it is known by Mr. Smith's acquaintances, some of whom 
still live in California, that he returned to St. Louis in 1830, where he 
sold out his interest in the fur company, and, in 1831, left Missouri, 
with eleven wagons and mule teams, laden for Santa Fe, and was killed 
by Indians, while on this journey, on the Cimeron river, near' Toas. 

In 1825, another company of trappers, under the command of James 
O. Pattie, started from the Mississippi valley to reach the Pacific 
coast, overland. But, keeping too far to the south, they passed 
through New Mexico into the valley of the Gila, where they were plun- 
dered by the Yuma Indians, and escaped by means of rafts, which 
carried them down that river to its junction with the Colorado. A 
report of this expedition, published at Cincinnati, in 1832, under the 
title of the "Hunters of Kentucky," was greatly instrumental in attract- 
ing the attention of emigrants to this coast. The particulars of 
Pattie's journey were published with President Jackson's message to 
Congress, ia 1836. The subject of emigration to the Pacific coast at 
that time occupied much of the attention of Congress. 

Walker, whose name is wedded to so many localities in the State — 
and who still resides in it ; Pauline Weaver, the pioneer of Arizona; 
Kit Carson, Maxwell, and Bill WUliams, whose name is famous in the 
regions of the Colorado Eiver, were all men of this class, several of 
whom probably hunted in California before Smith. 

Having devoted as much space to this subject as the object of our 
work will permit, we must proceed with our outline of the history of 
the early settlers of California. 



46 THE NATUIL\L WEALTH OF CALIFOKNU. 

The large qnantities of talloTt' which were received at Callao, known 
to be the product of cattle killed expressly to procure it, attracted the 
attention of John Begg & Co., an enterprising English firm at Lima, 
Peru, who, in 1824, entered into a contract with the Peruvian Govern- 
menti to supply it with California salted beef, for the use of its army 
and navy. To carry out this object, Messrs. McCulloch & Hartnell 
established a packing house at Monterey, in the fall of 1824^ and im- 
ported about twenty salters and coopers from Ireland and Scotland to 
conduct the business. It was for this work that Mr. David Spence, a 
well known citizen of Monterey, came to California from Lima, on the 
29th of October, 1824, and has remained there ever since. 

This pioneer packing establishment shipped several cargoes of meat 
to Peru, which were pronounced of excellent quality, but the gov- 
ernment of that country, at that time, had no funds to pay for its sup- 
plies, the contract was broken, and the business ended in 1825. At 
first, the company used salt imported from Peru, but it was soon dis- 
covered that California produced a much better article. 

In September, 1828, Timothy Murphy arrived at Monterey, from 
Lima, and was employed as a clerk by Messrs. McCulloch & Hartnell. 

In 1829, Jean Louis Vigjics, a native of Bordeaux, France, the 
founder of the well known house of Sansevain & Co., the iDioneer wine 
makers, arrived at Monterey, from the Sandwich Islands, but removed 
to Los Angeles in 1831, where he died in 1863, aged eighty-two years. 
The missionaries in the southern counties had made both wine and 
spirits for several years prior to the arrival of M. Vignes, but he was the 
fii'st to make these articles as a business, in California. In 1846, he 
had the largest vineyard in the whole of Upper California. His nephew, 
Don Luis Sansevain, who had been many years connected with M. 
Vignes in the management of the business, has become famous for the 
quality of the wine made from the pioneer vineyard. 

The subject of emigration from the States east of the Kocky Moun- 
tains to the territory on the Pacific Coast, had occupied the attention 
of Congress for many years before California came into possession of 
the United States. As far back as 1820, Mr. Floyd, who was then a 
Bepresentative from the State of Virginia, offered a bill "favoring 
emigration to the country west of the Eocky Mountains, not only from 
the United States, but from China." 

The reports circulated concerning the country had, as early as 1825, 
induced quite a number of persons to find their way overland to the 
Pacific coast, so that, before 1830, there were nearly five himdred 
foreismers on the west side of the SieiTa Nevada mountains. In 1831, 



EARLY HISTOET. 47 

Los Angeles, then tlie largest town in ttie Territory, contained about 
twelve liundred inhabitants, a large proportion of whom were foreigners. 
San Jose contained five hiindred, and one half of these were foreigners. 
There were also a few at Branciforte, a pueblo founded near the Mis- 
sion of Santa Cruz. These were all the towns in the Territory at that 
time. The first house in San Francisco was not erected until 1835. 
The foreign population did not increase much during the succeeding 
ten years — as we find by M. De Mofras' reports to the French govern- 
ment, written in 1841, that he estimated them at only one thousand, 
divided among the following nationalities : Americans from the United 
States, 360 ; English, Scotch and Irish, 300 ; Spaniards from Europe, 
80 ; Germans, Italians, Portuguese and Sandwich Islanders, 90 ; Mexi- 
cans, 170 ; and about 4,000 half-breeds. All the early settlers inter- 
married with the natives. The number of children in some of these 
mixed families was extraordinarily large. The wife of one prominent 
American, at Monterey, had twenty-two; the wife of another had twenty- 
eight; the wife of Mr. Hartnell, the United States translator, had twenty, 
all alive when California came into possession of the United States. 
Many of these half-breeds were of extraordinary size, some of them 
being seven feet high, and stout in proportion, while the ladies, hun- 
dreds of whom are still living, are fine specimens of humanity. 

At this time (1841) the district and presidio of San Diego, em- 
bracing the Pueblo of Los Angeles, contained 1,800 inhabitants ; that 
of Monterey 1,000 ; Santa Barbara, 800 ; San Francisco, 800 ; and 
about one thousand one hundred inhabitants were scattered throughout 
the interior. De Mofras says, in his report, that there was a large 
number of emigrants then on their way from the United States to Cali- 
fornia. The papers published in many of the Atlantic States, between 
1835 and 1840, show that companies were formed in most of them for 
the purpose of aiding emigrants to reach the Pacific Coast. The settle- 
ment of this Territory was the most prominent subject before the peo- 
ple of the United States at that time. So numerous were the emigrants 
between 1832 and 1840, that the Mexican Government became alarmed, 
and placed every impediment in the way of their settlement. It is a 
notable fact, in this connection, that but few grants of land Avere made 
to Americans outside the pueblos during the twenty-fom- years the 
country was under Mexican control. It was during this period that 
many of the men whose names figure most conspicuously in the State, 
made their appearance in California. 

On the 10th of March, 1832, Thomas O. Larkin, who did more than 
any other person towards annexing the country to the United States, 



48 THE NATTTBAX WEALTH OF CALITOENIA. 

arrived at San Francisco, and in company -witli his half-brother, J. B. 
E. Cooper, who had arrived at Monterey in 1823, erected the first flovir 
mill in the Territory. In 1833, Mr. Larkin was married to Mrs. Eachel 
Holmes, of Boston, (Mass.,) who was probably the first American lady 
who came to California. 

In 1836, J. P. Leese, who had been in business at Monterey for 
three years, came to Terba Bnena cove, as the site of San Francisco 
was then called, for the purpose of establishing a branch of his firm 
there. After removing the suspicions of the Mexican authorities, 
he selected a spot for his house at the comer of Clay and Dupont 
streets — the same lot on which the old St. Francis Hotel was after- 
wards built. This was the fijst house erected in San Francisco. 
W. A. Eichardson, who had been appointed Harbor Master in 1835, 
had previously erected a shanty, by nailing a ship's foresail over a few 
redwood posts, a little to the north of Leese's house, between Clay and 
Washington streets. It was at the completion of Leese's house, that 
the stars and stripes were first hoisted on the soil of California, to 
celebrate the event. In April, 1837, Leese married a sister of General 
VaUejo. Their daughter Eosalie, was the first child bom in San Fran- 
cisco. The first child bom in the State, both of whose parents were 
Americans, was Guadalupe Y. Botts, bom at Petaluma January 4tli, 
1846. 

In 1833, Isaac Graham came from Tennessee, overland, and settled 
at Santa Cruz, where, in 1841, he erected the first saw-mill in Cali- 
fornia. In 1836, this Graham, and Juan Bautista Alvarado, a native 
Califomian, who held a subordinate appointment under the Mexican 
authorities at San Francisco, overthrew the Mexican Government and 
declared California an independent State. Graham, with fifty Amer- 
ican riflemen, and Alvarado with one hundred Califomians, captured 
the Presidio of Monterey, with the Governor of the territory, and 
nearly six hundred Mexican soldiers. This conduct of Graham 
brought down the enmity of the Mexican Government upon all the 
Americans ; and in May, 1840, about one hundred of them were 
arrested, and either sent to jail, at Santa Barbara, or transported out 
of the country. Graham, who was sent to San Bias, was brought back 
by the Mexican Government, and lived in Santa Cruz tUl November 
8th, 1863, when he died, surrounded by an interesting family. 

On the 2d of July, 1839, John A. Sutter, the most famous of all the 
pioneers of California^ landed at Terba Buena, with ten Americans and 
Europeans, and eight Sandwich Islanders, vrith whose aid, in 1839, 
he had built Sutter's Fort, near the site of the present city of Sacra- 



EABLY HISTOBT, 49 

mento, which, within ten years after, became the Mecca towards which 
pilgrims from all countries, of all creeds and colors, bent their steps. 

The life of General Sutter has been so replete with incidents, of 
such an extraordinary character, that his history seems more like a 
series of ingeniously contrived fictions, than a narrative of sober facts. 
Born in Germany, of Swiss parents, he became a captain in the grand 
army of France, and mingled with the elite of Prench society during the 
reign of Charles X.; but, prompted by an impulse which appears 
scarcely natural, in the very dawn of his manhood, when society has 
most attractions, he longed for some secluded spot in the wilderness, 
where he might build up an ideal world around him. It being impos- 
sible to find such a spot in Europe, with its false civilization, in which 
hypocrisy and pretence are the ruling elements of Success, he wends 
his way to America, to find an imtrodden field in its far western ter- 
ritory. Arriving at New Tork in 1834, within a month he is on his 
way to the much praised "Wide West," whose dense pine forests and 
boundless prairies were distasteful to him. He nest goes to the semi- 
tropical region of New Mexico, whose parched, sand-covered plains, 
treeless hills, and savage Indians, drove him almost to despair. It was 
here, while pondering where next to go, that he met a party of wander- 
ing trappers who had seen California. They described its charms so 
vividly that he determined to find his way there. Proceeding to the 
Eocky Mountains, he joins a company of trappers bound for the shores 
of the Pacific Ocean, and, with them crosses the continent. But his 
guides led him to the cold, humid, and cheerless region of Port Van- 
couver, from whence it was impossible then to reach California by land. 
Hearing that there was a trade between the Sandwich Islands and the 
land he sought, he makes a voyage to Honolulu, in order to reach the 
harbor of San Francisco. After many weary months of waiting, a 
vessel is at last ready to sail for the American coast, but not for Cali- 
fornia. It is bound for Sitka. Sutter takes passage, trusting to Provi- 
dence, and by a remarkable accident, the ship is driven into San Fran- 
cisco in distress, and he finds himself in California. 

^Here a new difficulty arose. Not a resident of the territory had 
seen its interior, or could tell him how to reach the spot his trapper 
friends had so vividly described. After weeks of search, on the 16th 
of August, 1839, he finds the old beaver hunter's camp, near the junc- 
tion of the American and Sacramento rivers, which presented all the 
elements of the scene he had been wandering for five years to discover. 
Here he landed, and in a few months had constructed Sutter's Fort, 
made his home, and called it New Helvetia, in memory of the land o£. 
4 



50 THE NATUBAL -WEALTH OF CALIFOENU. 

his fathers. By kindness and liberality to the natives who swarmed 
around him, he made them cultivate his lands, herd his cattle, and 
guard his property against the more fierce savages from the mountains. 
In this patriarchal style he lived for nearly ten years, surrounded by 
everything that could minister to his wants — numbering his cattle by 
thousands, and owning the land for miles, until — to him fatal day — 
one of his -workmen found a few grains of gold in the soil, -when, as if 
by magic, the whole scene was changed, and from a veritable Utopia, 
the beautiful Valley of the Sacramento became a Pandemonium. The 
mighty power of gold was never before exhibited as it was then. With 
a rapidity very remarkable, the news of the discovery reached the most 
distant countries, and in a few months there was scarcely a nation that 
did not have its representatives digging and washing for gold on Sutter's 
farm, which embraced an area of many miles square. Mankind have cer- 
tainly been benefitted by the discovery of gold in California — but not 
so Sutter. That discovery involved him in ruin. It led to the destruc- 
tion of his land, cattle, and laborers. From being the monarch of all 
he surveyed in the broad Valley of the Sacramento, it made him again 
a wanderer, with no means of support in his old age except a donation 
made by the State, which he had been so greatly instrumental in 
founding. The life of what living man has been more strangely 
eventful ? 

Between 1840 and 1845, the fame of California as an agricultural 
country had become generally kno-wn to the people of the United States, 
while its importance from a commercial and political point of view was 
fully appreciated by the Federal Government. Mr. Larkin, who was 
appointed United States Consul in 1844, had for several years pre- 
viously kept the government fully informed of the acts of the agents of 
France and England, who were making arrangements for one or the 
other of these nations to take possession of the country. Emigration 
was encouraged by both France and England, as well as by the United 
States. The number of settlers, in consequence, greatly increased. 

It was during this period, in November, 1841, that John Bidwell 
•arrived from Missouri, overland, and entered the service of General 
Sutter, but soon after located on the land he now o-was, near Chico, 
Butte county, about forty miles from Marysville. Mr. Bidwell is a 
native of New York State, biit emigrated to Missouri, where he was 
lengaged for several years as a school teacher, prior to his starting for 
California. In company with Mr. Bidwell, overland, were Joseph 
Childs, Grove Cook, Charles Hoppe, and several others, who at present 
reside in the State. 



EAELY HISTOET. 51 

As an illustration of the American element in the territory at this 
time, we refer to an event which occurred on the 19th of October, 
1842. Commodore Jones, of the United States navy, having under 
his command the sloop of war Cyane, and frigate United States, entered 
the harbor of Monterey, captured the fort, hoisted the stars and stripes, 
and declared California a territory of the United States, to the hearty 
satisfaction of nearly all the inhabitants, a majority of whom were citi- 
zens of the United States. The next day, for reasons we shall refer 
to hereafter. Commodore Jones hauled down his colors and apolo- 
gized to the Mexican authorities for his conduct. But the impression 
. his action left on the minds of the Mexican and British officers caused 
them to increase their efforts to prevent the country falling into the 
hands of the United States, and created an intense feeling of hatred 
on the part of some of the Mexicans, against the citizens of that 
country. 

As early as May, 1846, Pio Pico, the then Governor of the Terri- 
tory, who was bitterly opposed to the Americans, in a speech before 
the Departmental Assembly in favor of annexing California to Eng- 
land, remarked : "We find ourselves threatened by hordes of Yankee 
emigrants, who have already begun to flock into our country, and whose 
progress we cannot arrest. Already have the wagons of that perfidi- 
ous people scaled the almost inaccessible summits of the Sierra Ne- 
vada, crossed the entire continent, and penetrated the fruitful valley 
of the Sacramento. What that astonishing people will next undertake, 
I cannot say; but in whatever enterprise they embark, they will be 
sure to be successful. Already, these adventurous voyagers, spreading 
themselves far and wide over a country which seems to suit their tastes, 
are cultivating farms, establishing vineyards, erecting mills, sawing 
up lumber, and doing a thousand other things Avhich seem natural to 
them. " 

The settlement of California and Oregon during this period, caused 
a steady stream of emigrants to wend their way across the plains, 
many of whom died from the tomahawk of the merciless savage, or 
from gaunt starvation. It is estimated by those who lived on the great 
line of this overland travel, that upwards of five thousand persons 
crossed the plains between the years 1840 and 1845, for the purpose 
of settling on the Pacific Coast. Several parties of these adventurous 
emigrants are known to have perished, while the hardships endured 
by all were of the severest nature. 

The passage across the Sierra Nevada mountains in those days was 
attended with frightful dangers. The sufferings endtrred by a party 



52 THE NATUEAL ■WE.ULTH OF CAilFOKNIA. 

under the command of Captain Donner, -who were snow-bound near the 
lake on the Truckee pass, which now bears his name, is one of the 
most horrible tales of human endurance on record. The party con- 
sisted of eighty persons, thirty of v/hom Avere females, and several 
children. Ai-riving at the foot of the Truckee pass at the end of Octo- 
ber, 1846, they were overtaken by a severe snow storm, which ren- 
dered it impossible for the cattle to travel. A portion of the party 
decided not to attempt to cross the mountains until spring. They built 
themselves cabins, killed the cattle for food, and thought they coiJd 
hold out till the snow would melt. The balance of the party, under 
the direction of Mr. Donner, undertook to make the pas.sage, but they 
had advanced only a few miles when they encountered a series of snow 
storms, such as are only witnessed in that elevated district. Their 
cattle and wagons were buried and lost, and the whole party left with but 
little food, and scarcely any shelter to pass a winter in that wild region. 
After struggling along for six weeks in the hope of crossing the sum- 
mit, it was found impossible for all to proceed. A party of eight men, 
five women, and two Indians, equipped with extemporized snow shoes, 
and supplied with all the provisions that could be spared, were dis- 
patched to reach some settlement in California where assistance could 
be obtained. In less than a week after leaving the camp, the provis- 
ions of this party were exhausted, while the terrible condition of the 
coimtry prevented their travelling more than a mile or two each day. 
On the seventh day, three of the party died from cold and hunger, and 
a storm of snow buried the survivors so deeply that it took them thirty- 
six hours, in their wretched condition, to extricate themselves, three 
more of them perishing in the effort. The nine survivors having been 
four days without food, the horrible suggestion presented itself of eat- 
ing the dead bodies of their late companions. After eating the greater 
portion of one body, the flesh of another was cut off and packed as a 
supply for the future, and they started on their way once more. In a 
few days this supply of flesh Avas consumed, and they were again con- 
fronted by starvation, when they fortunately killed a deer, which sus- 
tained them for a few days. AATien this was gone, they became so 
exhausted from wandering through the loose, drifting snow that, almost 
daily, death j^ut an end to the sufi'erings of one, whose body furnished 
food for the others. In less than a month from leaving camp, only five 
remained alive ; of these, foiir were unable to proceed. One, with 
almost superhuman resolution, managed to drag himself across the 
summit, and reached a hunter's camp on the Bear Eiver, where he was 
kindly treated, and his four companions promptly secured from their 



EAELY HISTOEY. 53 

perilous position. Information of the condition of the party in the 
mountains was sent to General Sutter, at his fort on the Sacramento, 
"who, at once dispatched a party of men accustomed to mountain life, 
with a number of mules laden with food and clothing, for their relief. 
As it was over one hundred miles from the fort to the Truckee, and 
the travel over the mountains difficult and slow, it was the 19th of Feb- 
ruary ere the party reached the nearest company of the sufferers. 
When found, ten of them were beyond all human aid. Not being able 
to bring along the whole of them, the relief party left a good supply 
of provisions with the men, and brought away all of the women, and 
- most of the children. A second relief party reached the lake on the 
1st of March, and started with the seventeen survivors left by the first 
party, but a heavy fall of snow rendered it impossible for the mules to 
carry them. All the adults were, therefore, left in a sheltered place, 
and only the children were taken to the fort. A few days later another 
party was sent after those who had been left on the road; when foimd, 
three were dead— the survivors had kept themselves alive by eating the 
bodies. The Donner party was not discovered until April, by a com- 
pany sent to their relief by citizens of San Francisco. Mrs. Donner, 
who is represented to have been a lady of refinement and great per- 
sonal beauty, had been dead but a few hours when the party reached 
their camp. Donner was one of the first who died. Twenty-two of 
the females, and most of the children were saved ; twenty-six men, eight 
women, and three children perished. The people of San Francisco 
made liberal provision for the son and daughter of Donner, who were 
rescued. A contribution was raised and the one hundred vara lot No. 
Thirty-nine, at the southeast corner of Folsom and Second streets was 
purchased in their name. This lot, at the present time is probably 
worth $50, 000. These children are said to be still living in San Fran- 
cisco. 

One of the female survivors of this fearfid tragedy was the fii-st 
white woman who settled at Marysville — that city being named, as a 
compliment to her. She subsequently married Mr. Charles Covillaud, 
one of the founders of Marysville, and resided there until September, 
1867, when she died at the early age of thirty-six, leaving a number of 
children, and greatly beloved by all who had the pleasure of her 
acqiiaintance. Hiram 0. Miller, another of the survivors, settled in 
Santa Clara County, where he died in October, 1867. 

A few months later, another party of emigrants perished in the moun 
tains, further south, in what, in consequence of their fate, has since been 
known as Death's valley. 



54 THE NATUEAL TffijVLTH OF C^VLIFOENLV. 

In 1845, the Mormons, having been expelled from their settle- 
ments in Illinois, and being informed of the adaptability of California 
for settlement, and perhaps under the idea that inaccessibility would 
save them from having many neighbors, made arrangements for a gen- 
eral emigration to the Pacific Coast. In the spring of 1845, a party of 
nearly two thousand of these people left the Missouri river, for Cali- 
fornia. Another party, consisting of one hundred and thirty-six men, 
sixty women, and forty children, under the direction of Mr. Samuel 
Erannan, left New York on the 4th of February, 1846, on board the 
Brooldyn, for San Francisco, where they arrived July 31st, 1846, just 
three weeks after Commodore Montgomery had taken possession of 
the place, in the name of the United States. A company of them 
went to San Bernardino, to form a settlement there; but Mormonism 
never took root in California, and, after lingering for a year or two, 
the settlement was abandoned. Mr. Branuan, on discovering the 
country in the possession of the United States, sent messengers to 
the Mormons coming to California overland, to inform them of the 
condition of affairs here. These messengers met Brigham Young 
near Great Salt Lake, in Utah, where it was decided to remain, and 
abandon California. By this fortunate circumstance, the State was 
spared the evil of polygamy, which has grown so rankly on the soil of 
Utah. Many of the party who came to San Francisco, concluded to 
abandon Mormonism, and remain there. Mr. Brannan, after having 
the honor of being the first person tried in the territory by a jury — on 
a frivolous charge, of which he was acquitted — became one of the most 
entei-prising and useful citizens in the State. 

Another valuable accession to the early settlers was made by the 
arrival of Colonel Stevenson's regiment of California Volunteers, con- 
sisting of nearly one thousand rank and file. In anticipation of move- 
ments which were siibsequently developed, in 1846, President Polk 
authorized Colonel J. D. Stevenson to raise a company of Infantry 
Volunteers, in New York, for the purpose of protecting the interests of 
the United States on the Pacific Coast. The men comprising this 
regiment were selected particularly with the object of their becoming 
settlers in the country; many of them have become permanent and 
honored citizens of the State. In its ranks, as privates, were sons of 
senators and representatives in Congress, la-^^yers, doctors, editors, 
printers, and representatives of nearly every trade, who were all per- 
mitted to bring tools and materials for carrying on their respective 
occupations— being in striking contrast to the soldiers sent here by the 
Mexican Government, who were generally the worst convicts from the 



EAKLI HISTORY. 55 

jails, and sucli refractory, turbiilent characters, as it "wus most desir- 
able to get rid of. 

Tlie California regiment left New York on the 26th of October, 
1846, on board the Thomas H. Perhins, Loo Choo, and Susan Drew. 
The first division, under command of Colonel Stevenson, on board the 
Thomas H. Perhins, arrived at San Francisco March 6th, 1847. The 
regiment was mustered out of service in the summer of 1848. Nearly 
three hundred of its members were alive, in California, in July, 1867. 
Among its commissioned officers were Captain Folsom, Lieutenant 
Harrison, and Captain Taylor, whose names are connected with streets 
formed on land they acquired. Captains H. W. Naglee and J. B. 
Frisbie, hold prominent positions in the history of the State. "VV. E. 
Shannon, the delegate from Sacramento to the State constitutional 
convention, who was the leader of the "free soil" party in that con- 
vention, was captain of Company I, of this regiment. The volunteer 
service of the United States has been honored by the exemplary con- 
duct of the members of Colonel Stevenson's regiment. 

The following incident affords an illustration of the kind of mettle 
these early California volunteers were made of. In the fall of 1846, 
Major Gillespie's forces, stationed at Los Angeles, were surrounded by 
a large body of Californians, under command of Andres Pico, and 
there was no hope of relief, unless assistance could be obtained from 
Commodore Stockton, who was then on board the Savannah, at San 
Francisco. John Brown, or Juan Flacco, (lean John) one of the little 
band of beseiged Americans, imdertook to carry a despatch to the Com- 
modore. The Mexicans suspected his errand, and in their efforts to 
capture him shot his horse, but this did not stop him ; he ran twenty- 
seven miles, to the nearest rancho, where he obtained another horse, 
and arrived at Santa Barbara the second night after leaving Los An- 
geles, having been pursued a great portion of the distance by bands of 
Mexican lancers. By obtaining fresh horses from American settlers, 
at whose ranchos he called on the way. Brown rode three hundred and 
fifteen miles, within three days, to Monterey, and reached San Francisco, 
from Monterey, one hundred and thirty miles, between sunrise and 
eight o'clock p. M., of the same day. This noted rider died, in Stock- 
ton, in 1863. 

Mr. Larkin estimated there were two thousand citizens of the United 
States in California before the close of 1846 ; about three thousand 
foreigners who were friendly towards Americans ; and about three thou- 
sand who were neutral, or opposed to them. The number of British 
and French had become so important that in May, 1845, Jas. A. Forbes 



5o THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNLV. 

■was appointed Consul for England, and Don Luis Gasquet, f(>r 
France. 

In March, 1846, Col. John C. Fremont, on a special mission from 
the general government, arrived at Monterey, in charge of a party of 
sixty-two frontiersmen and guides. The results of the attemj^t on the 
part of the Mexican authorities to drive this party out of the territoi-y 
are more directly connected with the early history of the State than 
with that of the early settlers in the territory. "We must, therefore, 
refer the reader to "Tuthill's History of California," for particulars. 

On the 2d of December, 1846, General Keamy, and a force of 
United States troops, arrived at San Diego, from St. Louis, overland. 

Captain Cook, with a battalion of United States cavalry, volunteers, 
arrived at San Diego in May, 1847, via New Mexico and Sonora. 
This battalion was soon after disbanded, and the men settled in various 
localities. Frederick G. E. Tittell, Esq., lato Supervisor of the City 
of San Francisco, and Colonel of the German Eegiment, arrived as 
fifer of this detachment. 

January 23d, 1847, a portion of the Third Regiment U. S. ArtUlery, 
one hundred and forty-four rank and file, arrived at Monterey, on 
board the United States storeship Lexington. Lieutenant-General 
W. T. Sherman, the hero of the march through Georgia, came with 
these troops, as a lieutenant, and Major-General H. W. Halleck as 
captain of engineers, attached, who was soon afterwards appointed 
secretary of the territory by General Mason, then military governor. 
Speaking the Spanish and French languages fluently. General Hal- 
leck's knowledge and experience were of great importance in every 
department of the new government. Traveling all over the country, 
he soon acquired a knowledge of its resources and capabilities, unsur- 
passed by any one in it. His services in defense of the Union, during 
the late rebellion, are recorded in the history of the Republic. Since 
his return to the State of his adoption, his labors have been incessant 
in informing himself and the government of the resources and require- 
ments of the Pacific coast. There are few of the early settlers whose 
services have been as important to the State, as those of Major-General 
H. W. Halleck. 

It not being necessary to the purpose for which this book is in- 
tended, to give further details concerning settlers, individually, who 
arrived since 1846, we conclude this portion of the early history of 
the territory by stating, that so extensive had become the overland 
emigi-ation, before the discovery of gold, that a majority of its white 
population were American citizens, and their families. It is esti- 



■ EAELT HISTOET. 57 

mated tliere were twelve tliousand wliite persons in California, in Jan- 
uary, 1848, -when that discovery was made. 

General Mason, who visited the diggings at Coloma, in June, 1848, 
in his report to the War Department on the subject, estimates there 
were two thousand Americans and Europeans, and two thousand 
Indians, at work there; and it is known that there were a great many 
others washing and prospecting for gold at other localities, at that 
time. 

There are many facts connected with the acquisition of California 
by the United States, which will probably never be brought to light, 
tiU some future Bancroft or Prescott shall be poring over the musty 
archives of the nation, in search of circumstances to explain the events 
of its past history. Few of such events wUl be more difficult of ex- 
planation than the fact, that the discovery of gold at Coloma — the 
event of the age — occurred on the 19th of January, and the treaty by 
which the country was ceded to the United States, was signed on the 
2d of March, 1848, neither of the contracting parties being aware of 
the great discovery ! 

Equally difficult will it be to explain how it happened that the Pa- 
cific Mail Steamship Company's vessels, the contract for running which, 
made as early as 1846, required the first to be ready for service in 
October, 1848, about the time when the news of the gold discovery 
reached New York, and emigrants were most anxious to get to Cali- 
fornia as quickly as possible ; for it is a remarkable coincidence that 
the first vessel of that line, the California, arrived at San Francisco 
with the first party of gold-seekers from the Atlantic States, on the 
last of February, 1849, followed by the Oregon, March 31st, and by the 
Panama in the month of June. 

Many of the men who have figured most conspicuously in the sub- 
sequent history of the State, arrived on board these three steamers, on 
their first voyage. 

By the end of June, 1849, the discovery had become generally 
known in Europe, China, Australia, the Sandwich Islands, and Central 
America; and vessels full of eager passengers were constantly arriving 
from those countries. During that month, nearly two hundred square- 
rigged vessels lay in the harbor of San Francisco, deserted by officers, 
crews, and passengers, who had all gone to the mines. 

The following is a correct list of the Governors of California, from 
the date of its settlement by the Spaniards, until it became a State in 
the American Union : 



58 THE NATUE.iL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 



CUDEB SPAXISH EULE. 

Gasper de Portala rrom 17G7 to 1771 

Felipe de Barri " 1771 to 1774 

Felipe de Neve " 1774 to 1782 

Pedio Fajes " 1782 to 1790 

Jose Antonio Eomeu " 1790 to 1792 

Jose J. de ArriUaga " 1792 to 1794 

Diego de Borica " 1794 to 1800 

Jose J. de ArriUaga " 1800 to 1814 

Jose AigueUo " 1814 to 1815 

Pablo Vicente de Sola " 1815 to 1822 



UNDEE MEXICAN EUIiE. 

Pablo Vicente de Sola From 1822 to 1823 

LuisArguello " 1823 to June, 1825 

Jose Maria de Echeandia " June, 1825, to Jan'y 1831 

Manuel Victoria " Jan'y 1831, to Jan'y 1832 

Pio Pico " Jan'y 1832, to Jan'y 1833 

Jose Figueroa " Jan'y 1833, to Aug. 1835 

Jose Castro " Aug. 1835, to Jan'y 1836 

Nicolas Gutierrez " Jan'y 1836, to April, 1836 

Mariano Chico " April, 1836, to Aug. 1836 

Nicolas Gutierrez " Aug. 1836, to Nov. 1836 

Juan B. Alvarado " Nov. 1836, to Dec. 1842 

Manuel Micheltorena " Dec. 1842, to Feb. 1845 

Pio Pico " Feb. 1845, to July, 1846 

AMEEICAN TEEEITOEIAIj GOVEENMENT. 

The government of California, after it came into possession of the 
United States, was vested in the commander of the national forces in 
the country, for the time being. Commodore John D. Sloat, on taking 
possession of Monterey, July 7th, 1846, issued a proclamation, as Gov- 
ernor of the territory. The Federal and State courts recognize the date 
of the issuance of this proclamation, as being the date on which the 
United States obtained possession of the country. Commodore Sloat 
acted as Governor imtil August 17th, 1846, when Commodore Bobert F. 
Stockton was proclaimed his successor, who appointed Colonel John 
C. Fremont, in January, 1847. Fremont was afterwards tried by court- 
martial, for accepting the office, which belonged to General Stephen 
W. Kearny, by virtue of his being commander of the forces. General 
Kearney proclaimed himself governor March 1st, 1847, and afterwards 
appointed Colonel Richard B. Mason on the 31st of May, 1847, who 
held office until April 13th, 1849, when General Bennet EUey was 
appointed military governor. 

General Biley, aware that public sentiment was opposed to militaiy 
rule, on the 3d of June, 1849, issued a proclamation calling a conven- 
tion, to meet at Monterey on the 1st of September, to frame a State 



EAELY HISTORY. 59 

constitation. This convention, consisted of forty-eight members, 
assembled, pursuant to this proclamation, and organized on the 4th of 
September, 1849, by electing Dr. Eobert Semple president ; "W. G. 
Marcy, secretary; Caleb Lyon (aftenvards Governor of Idaho) and 
J. G. Field, assistant secretaries ; W. E. P. HartneU, interpreter, (to 
translate the proceedings to the native Califomian delegates, who did 
not understand the English language) ; and J. Eoss Browne, the well- 
known author, as official reporter. 

A constitution was adopted and signed by the delegates, on the 
13th of October, and submitted to the people for ratification on Nov- 
ember, 13th, 1849, when 12,064 votes were polled in favor of its adop- 
tion, 811 against it, and 1, 200 were set aside for informality. Peter H. 
Burnett was elected governor, under this constitution, in December, 
1849. Being ready to assume the position of a State in the Union, 
application for admission was made, in due form. After a long and 
acrimonious struggle in Congress, between the advocates of slavery 
and free soil, which lasted from December 22d, 1849, until September 
7th, 1850, California was admitted as a State on the 9th of September, 
1850. 

The foUowing are the dates on which the several divisions of the 
territory were taken possession of by the United States : Monterey, 
July 7,th, 1846 ; San Francisco, July 9th ; Sonoma, July 10th ; and 
Sutter's Fort, July 12th. 

THE COIUMEECE OP CALIFOKNIA WHILE UNDEB THE SPANISH 
AND MEXICAN BULE. 

The commerce of California, while under Spanish and Mexican 
authority, when compared with what it has become since it has been 
subject to the dominion of the United States, afi'ords a striking illus- 
tration of the predominating traits in the Anglo-Saxon and Spanish 
characters. 

The Spaniards and their descendants, had for three centuries been 
in possession of the entire Pacific coast, from Valdavia, in latitude 
40° south, to the boundary of California, in latitude 42° north, em- 
bracing a line of more than five thousand miles of coast, indented vnih 
a number of the finest harbors in the world, and bordering a country 
capable of producing in abundance an almost endless list of articles, 
for which both Europe and Asia afforded a market, including the most 
extensive mines of gold and silver then known, with no scarcity of 
materials or labor for ship-building, or any other purpose ; yet they 



GO THE NATUE.VL WE.VLTH OF C.VLIFOENU. 

never established a Tigorous commerce. Controlling the important 
trade of the Western Islands, from 1568 to 1815, which obliged them 
to send their richly laden galleons to the coast of California — a neces- 
sity that, as early as 1565, led one of their navigators, Andres de Ur- 
denata, to discover the northwest trade winds, which Avafts a vessel 
from Asia almost to the Golden Gate of California — though following 
the track of these favoring winds for more than a century, they did not 
increase their commerce. In the year 1835, there were not more than 
thirty vessels belonging to all the states and nations of Spanish origin, 
from Valdavia to Oregon. 

Compare this with the career of the United States. Within a cen- 
tury of their existence, they have created a commerce extending over 
every land and sea, and perfected arrangements for its further exten- 
sion, unexcelled by those of any other nation. Railroads, steamships, 
and telegraphs, as appliances of commerce, are more extensively em- 
ployed by the Anglo-Saxon race in America, than by any other nation ; 
and in no portion of their dominion have these appliances been more 
effectively employed than in California. 

These remarks are not introduced in a spirit of self-laudation, or to 
express any feeling of disrespect to our Spanish and Mexican fellow- 
citizens or neighbors, but to account for the extraordinary expansion 
of the commerce of California, and to explain the basis on which our 
calculations of its future extension is founded. Within twenty years 
after obtaining possession of the country by the Anglo-Saxons, this 
commerce has been expanded from an annual cargo or two of hides and 
tallow, exj)orted to barter for a few thousand dollars' worth of coarse 
manufactured goods, until the value of the exports of products and 
manufactures — exclusive of the precious metals — exceeds $20,000,000, 
annually, and the imports of merchandise amount to S60, 000, 000. From 
a few scows, to transport the hides and tallow from the missions to San 
Francisco or San Diego, the local marine has increased until there are 
nearly 1, 000 vessels, including 125 steamers, chiefly owned by the mer- 
chants of San Francisco; and hiuidreds of the finest ships of the mer- 
cantile marine of the United States are employed in the California 
trade, which has also created lines of swift and capacious steamers, 
connecting the State with China, Japan, Europe, the Atlantic States 
and Australia, via the Isthmus of Panama ; the Sandwich Islands, 
British Columbia, Oregon, and Mexico. 

These facts and figures prove that less than 500,000 of the Anglo- 
Saxon race, possessing less than 700 miles of the Pacific coast-line, 
within less than twenty years, have created a gi-eater commerce than 



E^VELY HISTOr.Y. 61 

did all tlie nations of Spanish origin, possessing 5000 miles of tliat 
coast, in three hundred years. If such a commerce has been created 
in so short a time, by so small a population, is it unreasonable to 
anticipate an immense increase, when the enterprising artizans and 
manufacturers of the Atlantic States and Europe, being informed of 
the advantages California offers, as a field for their labor and skill, 
shall make their homes here, and increase its products and manu- 
factures ? 

Prior to the arrival of a few citizens of the United States, commerce 
was unknown in California. The missionaries produced all they 
required to supply the wants of themselves and their Indian neophytes, 
and were too much opposed to the introduction of strangers to encour- 
age any communication with the rest of the world. 

Mr. Gilroy, who has resided in California since 1814, states that 
for several years after his arrival, the whole trade and commerce of 
the country consisted of the shipment of a cargo of tallow, once a year, 
to Callao, in a Spanish vessel, which in return brought a few cotton 
goods and miscellaneous articles for the missionaries. 

In 1822, after Mexico had declared its independence of Spain, 
there was a slight increase in the commerce of California. In that 
year, an English firm at Lima (Peru) established a branch of its busi- 
ness at Monterey, for the purchase of hides and tallow; and vessels 
from Chili, Peru, and Mexico, made occasional trips for a cargo of these 
articles. American vessels, trading with the settlers on the Columbia 
river, finding that the missionaries of California had something to sell, 
visited San Francisco, Monterey, and San Diego, about this time. 
Whale ships were quite numerous on the coast, as early as 1820, and 
occasionally visited the California ports for fresh provisions and water, 
and bartered for them. It was through the visits of these American 
vessels that the value of California products became known to the 
world. 

Between 1822 and 1832, tlie exports from California had increased 
from a single cargo until they were estimated at 30, 000 hides, 7, 000 
quintals of tallow, 500 bales of furs, and 2,000 bushels of wheat annu- 
ally. In 1834, this branch of trade was greatly increased by the mis- 
sionaries killing immense numbers of their cattle, in anticipation of 
the movement for secularizing the missions, which was already inau- 
gurated by the Mexican Government. In this year, the Fathers 
slaughtered upwards of 100,000 cattle, to obtain their hides and 
tallow. At this time a new branch of trade was introduced by Thomas 
O. Larkin, and other Americans residing at Monterev. Vessels were 



G2 THE NATTJEAI, ■WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA. 

dispatched witli cargoes of horses, cattle, grain, etc., to Honohilu. 
The first animals of this class e\er seen on the Islands, were taken 
from Californij?, on board the brig Delia Bi/rd, and landed there in 
June, 1803 : they consisted of one horse and two mares. In the coiu'so 
of a year or two, these exports were increased by shipments of lumber, 
shingles, flour, potatoes, soap, etc. The Hudson Bay Company, also, 
began to send to California for supplies of grain and provisions, for 
its establishment on the Columbia, and the missionaries began to 
produce wine, raisins, olives, etc., which foimd a ready market in 
Mexico. 

Prom 1825 to 1836, an important element in the trade of California 
consisted of the skins of the sea otter, which were exceedingly abund- 
ant on the coast from Mazatlan to San Francisco. But their reckless 
slaughter by the hunters exterminated them before 1840. La Perouse 
states that when he visited Monterey, in 1786, the agents of the Span- 
ish Government, who then controlled this trade, were collecting the 
skins. Twenty thousand otters were in the list. The gi-eat French 
navigator thought they might have collected fifty thousand, the animals 
were so very numerous. 

As the export trade increased, the value and variety of the imports 
began to increase also, and about the year 1880, they included clothing, 
furniture, agricultural implements, salt, candles, lumber, etc. 

There was no trade with the interior of the country until about 1840. 
The few inhabitants who resided beyond the boxmdaries of the mis- 
sions had to produce all they required, or barter with the missionaries 
for cloth, wine, etc. There was no circulating medium of any kind in 
the country until 1824, when the "hide ships, " introduced a few him- 
dred dollars worth of silver, which generally found its way into the 
coffers of the missionaries. In 1832 there was but little money in cir- 
culation, most of the trade being transacted by barter. As late as 
1848, up to the discovery of gold, the currency of the country was 
almost exclusively silver. When La Perouse visited the country, in 
1798, beads were the circulating medium. 

The trade of California steadily increased under the judicious cul- 
tivation of the American residents. English, Chilian, and Mexican 
merchants sent their ships here to compete for a share of this trade. 
The following table of imports and exports, compiled by De Mofras, in 
1841, show that the Bostonians, who at that time managed this trade, 
obtained the largest share of it : 



EARLY HISTOEY. • 63. 

Imports and Exports of California, m 1841. 

Kation. Exports. Imports. 

United States $70,000 $150,000 

Mexican 50,000 65,000 

English 20,000 45,000 

Other countries 10,000 20,000 

, Totals $150,000 $280,000 

Included in these exports were hides valued at $210, 000 ; tallow, 
$55,000; peltries, lumber, etc., $15,000. About thirty vessels visited 
California, annually, in the conduct of this business. 

From 1837 to 1841, the trade of San Fr?ncisco was almost exclu- 
sively in the hands of the Hudson Bay Company. In 1841, this com- 
pany sold out its establishment and left the country. San Diego was 
then the seat of the export and import trade, but San Francisco began 
to take the lead in 1842. From 1841 to 1846, the commerce of Cali- 
fornia greatly increased. The preparations made by the United States 
Government to take possession of the territory caused an extensive 
circulation of money. The arrival of large detachments of its naval 
and military forces, and the great increase in the number of inhabi- 
tants by immigration, both by sea and overland, created a consider- 
able inland trade. The imports and exports were also materially 
increased. 

The following table of exports and imports, at San Francisco, dur- 
ing October, November, and December, 1847, will convey an idea of 
the course of the trade at that time : 

Imports and Exports at San Francisco during the last Quarter of 1847. 

Countries. Exports. Imports. 

Atlantic States $2,060 00 $6,790 54 

Oregon 7,701 59 

Mexico 5,39150 160 00 

Sandwich Islands 1,422 18 31,740 00 

ChiU and Peru 21,448 35 3,676 44 

Sitka 2,471 32 

Bremen 550 54 

Other countries 19,275 50 499 10 

Totals $49,597 53 $53,589 53 

The discovery of gold on the 19th of January, 1848, so thoroughly 
revolutionized the commerce, and everything else in the country, that a 
new era was inaugurated. As all the particulars of that event, and the 
history of San Francisco, which became the metropolis of the Pacific 
Coast in consequence of that discovery, are each given in a separate 



64 THE NATUK.VL WEALTH OF C.VLIFOP.XLV. 

cliapter, the commerce of tlie country subsequent to that event mil be 
found in those chapters. 

THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFOKNIA BY THE UNITED STATES. 

As there are many persons in California, as Tvell as in the Atlantic 
States and Europe, who labor iinder the impression that the acquisition 
of this State was influenced by, or was in some manner connected with 
the discovery of gold, the following synopsis of the policy pursued by 
the United States Government in acquiring territory on the Pacific 
Coast may be iiseful in removing such an erroneous impression, and in 
proving that that grand discovery was the result of American enterprise 
subsequent to the possession of the country by the Federal Govern- 
ment. 

We have already stated, when explaining the causes which led to the 
establishment of the first settlement of Americans on the Pacific Coast, 
that the importance of the fur trade of the northwest territory, as early 
as 1784, induced Mr. Jefferson, while Minister to France, to employ 
John Ledyard, to make an exploration of a portion of that territory, 
with a view to its idtimate possession and settlement by the United 
States — a piirpose so well understood by the Kussian Government that 
Ledyard was arrested and expelled from the country. This did not 
prevent Mr. Jefferson and his friends from persisting in their efforts to 
obtain their end. Through their influence, Mr. Astor, the great Amer- 
ican fur merchant, was induced to fit out several vessels, ostensibly to 
trade, but really to found a settlement on this coast. One of these 
vessels discovered the Columbia Eiver, and another founded a trading 
post on its banks, claiming the land by virtue of its discovery. This 
claim was denied by both Eussia and England, which were most anx- 
ious to prevent an American settlement on this coast. This settlement 
was the entrance of the wedge of American possession on this coast, 
which has yet to be driven home. On the 30th of AprU, 1803, the 
United States purchased the territory of Louisiana from France, which 
gave it another foothold on the Pacific. It was stated in the title con- 
veyed by this purchase that the western boundary of that territory was 
the Pacific Ocean. Spain, England, and Kussia, objected to such 
boundary. Pending a settlement of the dispute which arose on this 
point, Mr. Jefferson, who was then President, to carry out the object 
for which he had employed Ledyard, nearly twenty years pre%iously, 
appointed Clark and Lewis, two famous explorers, whose names are 
familiar to every reader of American history, and several other parties, 



EAELY HISTORY. 6^ 

to make a thorough, exploration of the country, "from the IMissouri to 
the Colorado, Oregon, and Columbia, to find the most direct and prac- 
ticable communication across the continent, for the purposes of com- 
merce. " 

The expedition of Clark and Lewis left the Missouri on the 7th of 
April, 1805, and reached the mouth of the Columbia, on the Pacific, 
on the 15th of the following November. The report of this expedition, 
the remarks of Mr. Jefferson, and the action of Congress in relation 
thereto, were accepted by England, Russia, France, and Spain, as a 
notification that the United States intended to establish settlements iu 
the newly acquired territory on the Pacific, and caused considerable 
opposition to be manifested by each of these nations. They all denied 
the title of the United States to any portion of the Pacific Coast, reject- 
ing the claim based on the Louisiana purchase, on the ground that 
France did not possess any territory on that coast, consequently could 
not convey any to any other power. 

In order to anticipate the proposed settlement by the United States. 
England fitted out an expedition to take possession of the country, and 
in 1808, founded a settlement near Frazer's Lake, a tributary of tfc'j 
Columbia. This was the first settlement of the British west of the 
Kocky Mountains. 

The Eussians, equally anxious to prevent an American settlemect 
on the Columbia, sought to attain their ends by strategy. In 1808, 
Count Eomanzofi, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, proposed to 
John Quincy Adams, who was then Minister to that country, to give 
American ships the privilege of supplying the Eussian settlements on 
the Pacific Coast with provisions and manufactured goods, and of trans- 
porting the Eussian American Fur Company's furs to China, (a most 
valuable trade, ) provided the United States government would recog- 
nize Russia's asserted right to the Pacific Coast, south of the Columbia 
river. 

The United States rejected the proposition, and insisted on its title 
to the territory south of that river, by both discovery and purchase. 
In 1811, the settlement of Astoria was founded, under the most favor- 
able auspices, and was progressing equal to the expectations of its pro- 
jectors, until the commencement of the war between the United States 
and England, in 1812, when the destruction of that settlement appears 
to have been sought with extraordinary zeal. It was captured by the 
English on the 13th of October, 1813. After the conclusion of the war, 
strenuous efforts were made by England to retain Astoria. The dis- 
ptite for its possession was not settled for nearly twenty-five years — 



6G THE NATURAL WILVLTII OF CALIFOKXIA. 

the Federal Government, never relaxing its lioltl of the territory thus 
fairly acquired, and necessary for the extension of American interests 
on the Pacific Coast. So important had this place and Oregon, which 
sprang from it, become, in 1845, that it was for the purpose of making 
communication between them and Panama that the Pacific Mail Steam- 
ship Company was projected. 

In 1818, Don Luis de Onis, the Spanish Minister, prompted by the 
i'rench Government, set up a claim to the territory c*i the Pacific Coast 
purchased by the United States from France. After many delays and 
much diplomacy, this claim was settled by the Florida treaty of Febru- 
ary 22, 1819, by which Spain ceded to the United States all the terri- 
tory west of the Eiver Sabine, and south of the upper parts of the Red 
and Arkansas rivers, from a line drawn from the source of the Arkan- 
sas, on the forty-second parallel of latitude, to the Pacific Coast. 

In 1823, President Monroe, in a message to Congi-ess, explained to 
the world what the policy of the United States on the Pacific Coast 
would be thereafter, in reference to colonization, in his memorable 
assertion of the Monroe doctrine, "that the American continents, 
py the free and independent condition they have assumed and main- 
tained, are henceforth not to be considered subjects for colonization by 
any European power. " This declaration caused the crowned heads of 
Europe to protest against a doctrine — the recent disaster to France by 
the overthrow of Maximilian, the pnrchase and conquest of California 
from Mexico, and the peaceful acquisition of the Russian possessions 
ou this coast prove — that the people of the United States intend to 
maintain, peaceably if they can, forcibly if they must. 

As an illustration of how strongly impressed were the intelligent 
minds of the nation in favor of this doctrine, and witli the belief that 
ihe Pacific Coast would, at no distant day, form the western boundary 
of the Union, many years before the acquisition of California, we refer 
to an oration delivered November 3d, 1835, when the first spadefid of 
earth was dug towards constructing the New York and Erie railroad. 
The event was one of great ceremony and much national importance. 
The orator, on that occasion, in the course of his remarks, stated "that 
some of his hearers would live to see a continuous line of railroads 
from the bay of New York to the shores of the Pacific." ^Tio then 
thought so bold an assertion would so soon be realized ? This saga- 
cious speaker merely gave'expression to the policy of the United States, 
which has been but partially carried out. 

The enunciation of the Monroe doctrine caused France and England, 
■\rho were deeply interested in the Pacific coast to use every means to 



EAKLY HISTOKY. 67 

prevent any extension of the United States territory there. In 1841, 
Marshal Soult, Minister of War under Louis Phillipe, appointed M. 
Duflot de Mofras, an eminent French savant and diplomat, to make a 
thorough exploration of California, and to prepare the way for France 
to acquire possession of the country. It is known that secret agents of 
that government resided in California from the time of M. De Mofras' 
visit, until it fell into the hands of the United States. The Federal 
government, aware of the purposes of France, dispatched Commodore 
Wilkes, with a squadron, consisting of five vessels of war, which 
remained at San Francisco for several months, on a precisely similar 
expedition, during which time that officer thoroughly surveyed the bay 
of San Francisco, and the Sacramento River, as far as Sutter's Fort. 
England, suspecting the designs of both, also dispatched a naval squad- 
ron for the same purpose. It must have been an interesting sight to 
the few residents of San Francisco at that time, to have seen the ships 
of three such powerfid nations riding at anchor in their bay. Had 
they known that they were all there for a similar object, the interest of 
their visit would probably have been much enhanced. 

M. de Mofras, in page 68, vol. ii, of his report states that he was 
satisfied, from information he gathered on board the English and United 
States vessels, that both parties expected to obtain possession of the 
country; while his own book was written to instruct the French officers 
how best to accomplish the same object. 

/ The foregoing facts are deemed sufficient to prove that the United 
States, for nearly half a century prior to the acquisition of California, 
or the discovery of gold, had been unremitting in their efforts to extend 
their dominion on the Pacific Coast. The territory they now own 
proves that these efforts have been crowned with signal success, despite 
the opposition of France, England, Spain, and Russia. From the 
small settlement on the Columbia, in 1810, when the wedge of posses- 
sion was entered, the national boundaries on the Pacific Coast have 
been expanded, imtil they embrace California, containing 158, 987 square 
miles; Oregon, 95,248 square miles; Washington, 69,994 square miles; 
Nevada, 108,000 square miles; Arizona, 118,000 square miles; New 
Mexico, 121,201 square miles; Utah, 88,000 square miles; Colorado, 
104,500 square miles; Idaho, 105,000 square miles; Montana, 145,000 
square miles; and Alaska, 570,000 square miles; a total of 1,683,930 
square miles— a territory nearly twice as large as all the kingdoms of 
Europe (except Russia) combined. The States and territories along 
the coast alone (including Alaska) eomj)rise an area of 894, 229 square 
miles, which is larger than aU the New England, Middle, and Western 



68 THE NA??TrRAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

States, and nearly equal to France, Great Britain, Germany, Prussia, 
and Austria, combined. These nations contain nearly one hundred 
and sixty millions of inhabitants, and the whole Pacific States and 
Territories have less than one million, while there is no country richer 
in natural wealth than a large portion of the Pacific Coast. 

The condition of California, for many years before its conquest and 
purchase by the United States, was such as to ofi"er indiicements for its 
seizure by any power having real or fancied grievances against the 
Mexican government. Its great agricultural capabilities, and the im- 
portance of its geographical position for political and commercial pur- 
poses, were as well imderstood by France and England as they were 
by the United States, and each of these powers were plotting for its 
possession. 

The tenure by which Mexico held dominion over the territory thus 
coveted by the three greatest nations, was the most frail. The ma- 
jority of the more intelligent native Califomians, were not in sympathy 
with their rulers. There was no trade, and but infrequent and irre- 
gular communication between the two countries, which also difiiered in 
soil, climate, and productions. The policy followed by Mexico, for 
many years, of sending its convicts and outlaws to California, to save 
the cost of keeping them in the jails, was not calctdated to engender 
either respect or confidence. The influx of Americans, the energy, 
enterprise and prosperity they introduced, and the interest the United 
States Government exhibited in behalf of its citizens on all occasion^, 
under such circumstances, were well adapted to impress the Califor- 
nians in favor of the United States, and to induce them to desire to 
attach their country to such a power. The secret agents of France 
•and England had not failed to observe this feeling among the inhabit- 
;ants, and had informed their Governments of its probable effects. 

The Federal Government, aware of all the plans of both France and 
England for the acquisition of the territory, , and knowing that the only 
■effective means to prevent one or the other accomplishing that object 
was to obtain possession itself — endeavored to purchase the territory 
from Mexico. As early as 1835, President Jackson proposed to purchase 
that portion of it "lying east and north of lines drawn from the Gulf 
■of Mexico, along the eastern branch of the Eio Bravo del Norte, up to 
the 37th parallel of north latitude, and along that parallel to the Pacific 
'Ocean. " This purchase would have been effected, but for the interfer- 
ence of the British Government. 

In 1845, John Slidell was appointed minister to Mexico, with special 
instructions relating to the i?iirchase of California, M-hich woiikl have 



EABLT histoht. 69 

been accomplislied but for British interference. After these repeated 
failures to obtain possession by purchase, and having full knowledge of 
the plans of England to obtain the prize, the struggle for mastery 
between the Federal Government and England became close and inter- 
esting. The Californians, prompted by the American residents in the 
territory, in 1846, declared themselves independent of Mexico. The 
majority of these were strongly in favor of annexation to the United 
States ; but the influence of Mr. Forbes, the British consul, had raised 
a dangerous opposition, at the head of which stood Governor Pico, 
General Castro, and several other prominent natives. Fortunately, 
the well matured plans of the Federal Government settled the question. 
Fremont, on his arrival here, on an exploring expedition, was met by 
Lieutenant Gillespie with oral instructions to take possession of the 
country, and keep it until reinforcements on the way could reach him. 
These reinforcements came in the very nick of time, and the conquest 
was accomplished. 

To show how close was the contest between the United States and 
England, it may be stated that within twenty-four hours after Commo- 
dore Sloat had taken possession of Monterey, the English admiral. Sir 
George Seymour, arrived there on board the Collingivood. The blunt 
old sailor good-naturedly informed Sloat that he had come to take pos- 
session of the country, in the name of .-his government. 

Mr. Colton, chaplain in the U. S. navy, who was acting as alcalde 
at Monterey at this time, states that there was an excited meeting at 
that place, on the 9th of July, two days after the capture of the town 
by Commodore Sloat, for the purpose of calling on the British admiral, 
who was then in the port, for protection, and placing the territory 
under that flag. 

In April, 1846, Mr. Forbes, the British consul, had completed 
arrangements with Governor Pico and General Castro, for placing 
California in possession of England, on. the condition that England 
would assume the debt of $50,000,000, due by Mexico to British sub- 
jects. To retain possession, England was to send out a colony of 
Irishmen, under the direction of a catholic priest named Macnamara, 
who was an agent of that government. The deeds for three thousand 
square leagues of land in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, 
made in favor of this Macnamara, very fortunately fell into the hands 
of the Federal Government, before they were signed by Governor 
Pico, or there might have been a tremendous claim for compensation, 
by this individual. To show how thoroughly informed the Federal 
Government were of this design, we quote the following instructions 



70 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF C.VLIFOKNIA. 

from Secretary Bancroft to Commodore Sloat, under date of July 12th, 
1846, only two months after Forbes' contract had been signed : 

' ' The object of the United States has reference to ultimate peace -with Mexico ; and if 
at that peace the basis of the uti possiditis shall be established, the government expects, 
through your forces, to be found in actual possession of Upper California. * « « 
After you shall have secured Upper Cahfornia, if your force is sufficient, you will take pos- 
session and keep the harbors in the Gulf of California, as far down, at least, as Guaymas. 
But this is not to interfere with the permanent occupation of Upper California." 

This document clearly establishes the fact, that the acquisition of 
California was determined upon by the Federal Government, nearly 
two years before the discovery of gold, and was rendered imperative by 
the intrigues of the English Government, to prevent the United States 
extending their influence on the Pacific coast. 

Those who desire further information concerning the early history 
of California and the Pacific Coast, will find much interesting data in 
the voyages of Drake, La Pe'rouse, Vancouver, Beechey, and Perry ; 
in the writings of Fathers Venegas and Palou, and in the works of 
Forbes, DeMofras, Greenhow, and TuthiU. 



CHAPTER II. 

GEOGEAPHY AND TOPOGEAPHT. 

Outline of Geography — ^The Harbors of California — San Francisco Bay — Tidal Influences — 
San Diego Harbor — San Pedro Bay — The Santa Barbara Channel — San Luis Obispo 
Bay — Monterey Bay — Santa Cruz Harbor — Half Moon Bay— Drake's Bay — Tomales 
Bay — Bodega Bay— Humboldt Bay — Tiinidad Bay — Crescent City Harbor — Improvo- 
ments to be Made — Islands on the Coast. 

California is an extremely rugged country, a large portion of its 
surface being covered with hills and mountains. As much of its terri- 
tory remains unsurveyed, and has been but partially explored, the 
details of its geography and topography are unavoidably incomplete. 
But sufficient is known of both to enable us to describe its general 
outline, as well as many of its most conspicuous and interesting fea- 
tures. 

In outline California forms an irregxdar parallelogram, its length 
averaging about seven hundred miles, extending southeast by north- 
west, from latitude 32°45' to latitude 42°, with an average breadth of 
nearly two hundred miles. It contains 158, 687 square miles, or more 
than 100, 000, 000 statute acres, of which 35, 000, 000 acres are adapted 
for agricultural purposes; 23,000,000 acres for grazing; 5,000,000 acres 
are swamp and overflowed lands, which may be reclaimed. The lakes, 
rivers, bays, and other surface covered with permanent water, amount 
to nearly 4,000,000 acres; about 10,000,000 acres consist of arid plains 
and deserts, the balance, 23,000,000 acres being covered with rugged, 
and for the most part heavily timbered mountains. 

Its mountains, which comprise the predominating geographical and 
topographical features, for the convenience of description, may be 
classed under two grand divisions : the Sierra Nevada ranges, which 
traverse the State along its eastern border, and the Coast Eange, which, 
as its name implies, extends along its western border near the sea 
coast. These divisions, uniting on the south, near Fort Tejon, latitude 
35° and on the north, near Shasta City, latitude 40°35', enclose the 



72 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOKNIA. 

valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, wLich are nearly tlireo liun- 
dred and fifty miles in length, and from forty to eight)' miles wide at 
the points of their greatest divergence. 

Each of these divisions embraces many separate groups of mountain 
chains of vast extent, differing in geological relations and mineral 
composition, presenting in many places scenes of rare beauty, or 
rugged wildness not surpassed by any mountains in the world ; for 
here, the mighty forces of the volcano and earthquake, of the crushing, 
slow-moving, ponderous glacier, and of the swiit-destrojdng flood, have 
each left evidence of their power. 

"When we state that the Coast Eange and Sierra Nevada moun- 
tains, after separating as above mentioned, diverge from both points 
of contact with a tolerably even curve, until the divergence reaches its 
greatest limit, the reader may form some idea of the shape of the mag- 
nificent valleys they enclose, which contain nearly five eighths of all 
the level land in the State. It is this peculiarity of their form which 
renders a great portion -of them subject to overflow during rainy seasons. 
The whole of the water which flows from nearly five hundred miles of 
the Sierra Nevada ranges, and from the eastern slope of the coast 
mountains, must find its way to the ocean through these valleys — the 
Sacramento flowing from the north, the San Joaquin from the south — 
giving names to the portions through which they pass, bring the accu- 
midated waters to the head of Suisun Bay, where they imite. The 
only outlet for this bay, the Straits of Carquinez — a narrow channel, 
several miles in length and less than a mile in width — being too small 
for the passage of the waters as rapidly as they accumulate from such 
an extent of mountainous country, during extraordinarily wet seasons, 
they rise, and as the greater portion of the land of the valleys is but a 
few feet above the ordinary water level, they are speedily submerged, 
except where protected by levees. 

It is much more difficult to convoy an idea of the form and extent 
of the mountains within the State, by a mere description, than it is of 
its great valleys. Their stupendous proportions and complex struc- 
ture are so entirely unparalleled that there are few points of comparison 
between them and other mountains to which we can refer the reader 
to assist in illustrating our description. The Sierra Nevada, or snowy 
mountains, which bound the Sacramento valley on the east, include a 
series of ranges, which, collectively, are seventy miles wide. The gen- 
eral name for the gi-ouj) is derived from the sndw which is rarely absent 
from the higher peaks in the range. 

The Coast Eange, which bounds it on the west, also consists of 



OEOGEAPHY AND TOPOGEAPHY. 73 

a series of cliains aggregating forty miles miles in -widtli, bordering the 
State from its northern to its southern boundary. There is a most 
remarkable difference in the structure and conformation of the two 
series. The Sierra Nevada ranges may be traced in consecutive order 
for an immense distance. The whole country, for nearly five hundred 
miles in length, and nearly one hundred miles in width — their extent 
within the limits of the State — being subordinate in configuration to 
two lines of culminating crests, which impart a peculiar character to its 
topography, while in the Coast Eange all is confusion and disorder. 
Each mountain in the whole series appears to be the product of causes 
singularly local in their effects — the mineral composition of many 
high mountains, in close proximity to each other, being very different. 
There are peaks in this range which reach from fifteen himdred to eight 
thousand feet above the sea level, but there is no connection in the 
direction of such culminating peaks. 

If we compare this peculiarly local structure of the Coast Eange 
with the remarkable continuity in the direction of the Sierra Nevada 
ranges, we may comprehend some of the peculiarities which form the 
most interesting features in the two series of California mountains — ^its 
Alps and Appalachians. The highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada, from 
Mount Shasta on the north, including Lassen's Butte, Spanish Peak, 
Pilot Peak, the Downieville Buttes, Pyramid Peak, Castle Peak, Mounts 
Dana, Lyell, Brewer, Tyndall, Whitney, and several others not yet 
named, which reach from 10,000 to 15,000 feet above the level of the 
sea, are nearly all in a line running N. 31° W. On the eastern side of 
this culminating line of peaks is situated a series of lakes, the principal 
of which are the Klamath, Pyramid, Mono, and Owens', lying wholly 
to the east of the Sierra, and Tahoe, occupying an elevated valley at a 
point where the range separates into two summits. The confluence of 
the Gila and Colorado rivers forms the southern limit of the depres- 
sion in which these lakes are located. A somewhat similar depression 
exists on the western slope of this ridge of high peaks, which is also 
about fifty miles wide, and terminated by another series of peaks, 
remarkably continuous in their direction, and also containing a series 
of lakes. This remarkable continuity in the main features of the topo- 
graphy of so large a portion of the State, has induced geographers to 
divide it into four sections, which differ from each other in soil, climate, 
and productions. That section which lies to the east of the range of 
culminating peaks, is generally termed the "Eastern Slope." The 
depression on the west of this range, and the subordinate range of 
peaks which bound this depression on the west, is considered as the 



74 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALEFOENIA. 

Sierra proper. The depression between the foot hills of this subordi- 
nate range and the Coast Eange, is called the California valley — the 
Coast Range forming a separate section. The State is further divided, 
geographically, by a line drawn from west to east, in the locality of Fort 
Tejon ; all south of such line is considered southern California; all the 
territory north of another line, intersecting Trinity, Humboldt, Teha- 
ma, and Plumas counties, being considered as northern California ; the 
country between these two lines being central California. This central 
division contains seven eighths of the population and wealth of the 
State. 

From Point Concepcion, in latitude 34°20', to Cape Mendocino, in 
latitude 40°20', the mountains of the Coast Eange present a rocky bar- 
rier, with numerous projecting headlands, against which the waves of 
the Pacific Ocean break with gi-eat fury during the prevalence of east- 
erly or westerly gales. Between these two points, and sheltered by 
these projecting headlands, the mariner finds the best harbors along 
the coast. Coming from the north, and sailing south, he meets with 
Bodega bay, in Sonoma county; Tomales, and Drake's bay, in Marin 
county; San Francisco bay; Half Moon bay, in San Mateo county; 
Santa Cruz bay, Santa Cruz county; Monterey, and Carmel bays, in 
Monterey county; Estero, and San Luis bays, in San Luis Obispo 
county. North of Cape Mendocino is Humboldt bay, in Humboldt 
county; Trinidad bay, in Klamath county; Light and Pelican bays, 
in Del Norte county. South of Poiat Concepcion there are sandy 
plains, twenty to forty miles wide, between the mountains and the sea. 
Along these flat shores are the harbors of Santa Barbara, in Santa Bar- 
bara county ; Wilmington and Anaheim Landing, in Los Angeles 
county; San Luis Eey, and San Diego, in San Diego county. 

It will be perceived by this list of harbors along the coast of Cali- 
fornia, that it possesses great facilities for carrying on an extensive 
coasting trade. In addition to the harbors above named there are sev- 
eral estuaries and rivers indenting the coast, which afford convenient 
anchorage for vessels to load lumber, grain, firewood, and other pro- 
ducts of the coast range. 

Those portions of this range which skirt the coast in Marin, Sono- 
ma, and Mendocino cormties, between latitude 38° and 40°, are toler- 
ably well timbered; but south of Bodega bay, and north of Mendocino 
county, except about Monterey bay and Santa Cruz, the coast line 
presents a bleak and sterile, appearance. All the valleys in the range, 
which are open to the coast, are narrow and trend nearly east and 
west. The Salinas, the most extensive of these coast valleys, is nearly 



GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGEAPHT. 75 

ninety miles in length by eight to fourteen miles in width, a large 
portion of which is adapted to agricultural purposes — ^being exceed- 
ingly fer'ile, producing abundance of wild oats and clover, where not 
under cultiyation. The Russian river valley, which also opens to the 
sea, is also very fertile. Further inland, sheltered from the cool 
sea breezes by the outer range of mountains, are many tolerably broad 
and very beautiful valleys, which produce the finest grain, fruit, and 
vegetables raised on this part of the coast. 

Among these inland valleys of the Coast Kange are Sonoma, Napa, 
and Petaluma, having navigable rivers connecting them with the 
bay of San Francisco ; Berreyesa, Suisun, Vaca, Clear Lake (the Switz- 
erland of California), Amador, San Eamon, Santa Clara, Pajaro, and 
many others, which will be referred to more particularly when describ- 
ing the topography of the counties in which they are located. 

The outer coast valleys are generally separated by steep, barren 
ridges, while those inland are divided by gently sloping hills, some- 
what similar to the rolling prairie lands of Illinois, and are susceptible 
of cidtivation over their entire surface. All the coast valleys are toler- 
rably well watered. 

The most familiar and thoroughly explored division of the coast 
mountains, is the Monte Diablo range, which covers a territory about 
one hundred and fifty miles long and from twenty to thirty miles wide. 
This division possesses much importance, from its containing the only 
coal-mines in the State now profitably worked. It is bounded on the 
south by Los Gatos creek, on the east by the valley of the San Joa- 
quin, on the west by the bay of San Francisco and the Santa Clara 
valley, and on the north by the straits of Carquinez and San Pablo 
bay. The portion of this range which forms so picturesque a back- 
groimd to the landscape, as seen from San Francisco, across the bay, 
are the Contra Costa hills. These hills being in front of Monte 
Diablo, from that point of view, only its crest is seen above them; but 
it forms a conspicuous object in the scene from all other points, and is 
one of the best kno-\vn landmarks in the State, although it is not so 
high as many other mountains in the Coast Eange. Mount San Ber- 
nardino, in San Bernardino county, is 8500 feet high ; Mount Hamil- 
ton, 4440 feet ; Mount Eipley, in Lake county, 7500 feet ; San Carlos 
peak, in Fresno county, 4977 feet; Moimt Downey, in Los Angeles 
county, 5675 feet ; Monte Diablo being 3881 feet. There are nearly 
twenty unnamed jjeaks along the coast, reaching from 4000 to 5000 
feet in height. 

Owing to the peculiarly isolated position of Monte Diablo — stand- 



76 THE NATUB^VL WE^ULTH OF C^UJEOENIA. 

ing aloof, as it does,, from the throng of peaks that rise from the Coast 
Range, like a patrician separated from jalebeians, the beauty of its out- 
line commands the attention of the traveler by land or sea — makes it a 
landmark not possible to mistake, and causes its summit to be a center 
from whence may be viewed a wider range of country than can be seen 
from almost any other point in the State. On the north, east and south- 
east, maybe seen a large portion of the great valleys of the Sacramento 
and San Joaquin, with many thriving towns and villages, environed with 
gardens and farms, while sweeps and slopes of verdure mark the distant 
plains with hues inimitable by art. In the extreme distance, as a bor- 
der to this grand panorama, rising range above range, is seen the 
Sierra Nevada mountains, stretching along the horizon upwards of 
three hundred miles. In an opposite direction the beautiful valleys of 
the Coast Range come into A'iew, with all the charming features of 
prosperous and skilled rural industry, and the broad bay of San Fran- 
cisco, where are riding at anchor a fleet of ships, from the masts of 
which the ensigns of nearly all nations may be seen fluttering ; while 
beyond, extending from the water-line to the very summit of the high- 
est hills, is San Francisco city, the home of nearly one fourth of the 
population of the State. To the right is seen the forts and earth- 
works that guard the Golden Gate, while beyond, as far as the eye 
can reach, is the Pacific ocean, bearing on its bosom numberless ves- 
sels, passing to or fro on the peaceful mission of commerce. 

The aborigines called this great landmark of California, Kali Woo 
Koom — the mighty mountain. The Spaniards called it Sierra de las 
Oorgones, either of which is preferable to its present name, which 
really does not belong to it, but to a small hill seven miles to the north, 
to which the name was applied from the following incident : About 
the year 1814, a party of Spanish soldiers were sent from the presidio 
of San Francisco to chastise the tribe of Indians who roamed through 
this portion of the Coast Range. In a fight that took place, three of 
the Spaniards were killed, the others ' ' retired in good order " to the 
little hill, as a place where they could defend themselves against the 
swarm of Indians. At night, the sentry, half asleep at his post, fan- 
cied he saw a spectral figure, of colossal proportions, flying through 
the air towards the hill where his comrades lay sleeping. Terrified 
by the apparition, he cried oiit, "El Diablo ! El Diablo !" The 
Spaniards, being more afraid of the devil than they were of the In- 
dians, fled from' the spot, which was thereafter known as Monte 
Diablo. As there was a good spring of water in the vicinity, it was 
often resorted to by hunters, who, iii describing it to their friends, 



GEOGBAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 77 

called it the Monte Diablo spring. In after years, settlers began to 
make tlieir homes near Monte Diablo, and when the great influx came 
in 1848 and 1849, the name was transferred from the little hill to the 
large mountain, and has since been applied to the whole range. 

There is but one river in the whole coast range of California con- 
necting with the ocean that is navigable — the Salinas, in Monterey 
county. There is quite a number which connect with San Francisco, 
San Pablo and Suisun bays, from the interior, and are conseqiiently 
of nearly equal importance for purposes of trade and commerce, as 
if they connected with the ocean. The Suisun, Napa, Sonoma, and 
Petaluma, all enter on the north of San Pablo bay, ajjd are navigable 
by steamers. North of the Golden Gate, are Russian river, in So- 
noma county; Mad and Eel rivers, in Hiimboldt county; and the 
Smith and Klamath, in Del Norte county — all of which are permanent 
streams of considerable magnitude, but have too many impediments, 
and too great a fall, to be navigable. The Eel has been cleared within 
the past few months, as it is proposed to run a steamer up it for a few 
miles. On the south are the Pajaro, in Santa Cruz and Monterey coun- 
ties ; the Santa Inez and Santa Clara, in Santa Barbara county; the 
Santa Maria, in San Luis Obispo county; the Santa Ana and San 
Gabriel, in Los Angeles county; and a number of others; but as the 
latter are little better than channels for carrying off the superfluous 
rain during the wet season, being dry at nearly all other seasons, they 
are not of sufficient importance to deserve further mention in this 
place. 



THE HAEBOES OF CALIFOENIA. 

SAN FKANCISOO HAEBOE. 

This, the safest, best, and most capacious harbor on the western 
coast of North America, is a securely land-locked bay, nearly fifty 
miles in length, by an average of about nine miles in width, with 
deep water, good anchorage, and well sheltered by the surround- 
ing hills from the violence of the winds, from every point of the 
compass. The entrance to this bay, which none of the early naviga- 
tors were able to discover, is in latitude 37° 48' north, and longitude 
122° 30' west from Greenwich, is through a strait about five miles in 
length and a mile wide, which was most appropriately named Chryso- 
palse — the Golden Gate — by Fremont, in his "Geographical Memoir 
of California, " written in 1847, before the source of the golden streams 
which have since flowed through it, was discovered. 



78 THE NATURAL ■WE.VLTII OF CVLIFOBNIA. 

As all the waters from the interior flow through this opening to 
the sea, there is a considerable outward current, at cLb tide, which 
Kuns at the rate of six miles an hour, at ordinary seasons, and with 
much greater force during seasons of flood; but such are the admirable 
arrangements made by Nature, in completing her work at this point, 
that this current offers no impediment to vessels coming in, there 
never being less than thirty feet of water on any part of the entrance. 
The shores of this strait are bold and rocky, rising on the north side, 
in some places to nearly two thousand feet in height, bare and bleak. 
On the south, many of the hills, which are from three hundred to four 
hundred feet high, are covered with nearly white sands, which are 
shifted by every breeze. While on the outside of this entrance, all is 
drear and gloomy — ^nothing to be seen but barren rocks and sandy 
dunes, rendered additionally dismal by the fogs which prevail a 
greater portion of the year, during the early part of each day, once 
through the narrow opening, the scene changes as by magic. Passing 
through the strait, which trends at right angles to the bay, as its end 
is reached, a striking contrast is presented : the fog is left behind, the 
gently sloping hUls, on the north of the lower bay, are either emerald 
green, in the spring, or russet brown with the remains of the summer's 
verdure, in the fall. In front, in the middle of the channel, and only 
about four miles from the entrance, is Fort Alcatraz, bristling with 
heavy ordinance, and crowned with a tall light-house. To the right, and 
still nearer to the "Gate," on a projecting spur of rocks, which appears 
to have been placed there for that express purpose, stands the red 
brick buildings of Fort Point, surroimded by a labyrinth of solid 
granite fortifications. Beyond, on the south, appears a forest of masts 
of vessels anchored in the stream, or moored to the wharves, which 
extend along the entire city front. On the right, spread over miles 
of deeply cut hills, and artificially made levels, which extend far into 
the waters of the bay, lies the city of San Francisco. On the opposite 
shore is Oakland and Alameda, peeping through groves of live oak, 
while, around in all directions, is seen the gently undulating country 
wliich forms the garden of the State, its hills rising tier above tier, 
each of different tint, as "distance lends enchantment to the view." 

The beauties of the bay of San Francisco are not, however, of that 
soft, voluptuous, enervating type, which poets and travelers ascribe to 
the famous bay of Naples; they are of a sturdier, hardier, more active 
and animated character — as much in conformity with the spirit of the 
people who dwell along its borders, as the warm, rippleless waters of 
the Neapolitan bay are in consonance with its lazzaroni. 



» GEOGEAPHY AJTO TOPOGEAPHT. 79 

There are a number of islands and harbors within San Francisco 
and connecting bays, of considerable importance. 

Alcatraz island, near the entrance of the Golden Gate, is about 
1, 600 feet in length by 450 feet in width, containing about thirty-five 
acres. Its highest point is 135 feet above the waters of the bay. It is 
the key to the fortifications of the harbor. 

Angel island is the largest in San Francisco bay. It contains up- 
wards of eight hundred acres of good land, with an abundant supply 
of fresh water. It was formerly well timbered with oak, when it 
formed an interesting object in the landscape, as seen from the city of 
San Francisco, four miles distant. It contains few trees now, but 
produces good crops of wheat and barley. There are upon it quar- 
ries of excellent building stone. Most of the rock used in construct- 
ing the fortifications on Alcatraz, and at Fort Point, was obtained 
at these quarries ; the stone used in the erection of the Bank of Cali- 
fornia, one of the handsomest structures on the coast, was also ob- 
tained here. 

Terba Buena, or Goat island, lies directly opposite San Francisco, 
It is much smaller than Angel island. 

Molate island, or Bed Bock, about four miles north of Angel island, 
is a barren rock, of some little importance, as it contains a vein of 
manganese ore, of which several shipments have been made to 
England. 

Bird Bock, and the Two Sisters, are unimportant but picturesque 
rocks, near the northern end of San Francisco bay. 

There are several other rocks and islands around the shores of this 
bay, which are not of sufficient importance to be noticed in this place. 
At the head of San Pablo bay stands Napa or Mare island, on which 
the United States navy-yard is located, forming one side of the straits 
and bay of .Napa, which connects with Napa creek, a stream from the 
Suscol mountains. 

Vallejo — a rapidly improving town, once the capital of the State — 
is located on the east side of Napa Bay, and opposite the navy-yard on 
Mare island. There is good anchorage and shelter, and plenty of 
water for the largest vessels in this bay. The Vallejo and Sacramento 
railroad, connecting with the Central Pacific, the Folsom and Placer- 
ville, and the Northern or Marysville railroads, has its terminus here, 
bringing the Pacific railroad within thirty miles of San Francisco. 
At the eastern entrance of the Straits of Carquinez, which have a length 
of seven miles, are situated the towns of Benicia and Martinez. They 
)ccupy sites opposite each other — the straits here being about four 



80 THE NATUEAL TVEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. ' 

mUes wide. A steam ferry boat runs between' them. The various 
towns and harbors further inland are referred to elsewhere. 

"With such facilities for foreign and domestic trade, as the harbor of 
San Francisco affords to that city, there is nothing remarkable in the 
fact that three-fourths of the capital, and nearly one-fourth of the popu- 
lation of the State, are concentrated there. 

Tidal Influences. — The tidal influences on the rivers emptying into 
the bay of San Francisco, extend to the head of navigation in the 
interior. The maximum rise of full tide at San Francisco, is 8 feet 
two inches; at Benicia, 7 feet 6 inches; at Sacramento, 2 feet 6 inches ; 
at Stockton, 2 feet 1 inch. At Crescent city, on the north, the maximum 
rise of tide is 9 feet; at San Diego, on the south, 7 feet. 

SAN DEEGO HAKBOK. 

San Diego harbor is on the extreme southern portion of the coast 
line within the boundary of California, in San Diego county, latitude 
32°41', four hundred and fifty-six miles south of San Francisco. It is 
next in importance to San Francisco bay, both in security and geogra- 
phical position. It was the principal harbor of Upper California until 
1830. It is well sheltered from all winds by surrounding hiUs, but 
has few of the advantages for inland traffic possessed in such an emi- 
nent degree by San Francisco. The harbor is in the form of a broad 
curve, about twelve miles in length, and from one to two miles wide. 
For about five miles from its entrance there is a channel half a mile 
wide, in which there is never less than thirty feet of water, with excel- 
lent anchorage, on a sandy clay bottom. 

Being several hundred miles more directly in the track of the 
China and Sandwich islands steamers than San Francisco, it might 
become a formidable rival to that port in the important trade -vvith 
those countries were it connected with a railroad across the continent; 
but the resources of the country are being so slowly developed that 
it is not probable such a railroad will be built in the immediate future. 
The California, Mexico, and Oregon Steam Navigation Company con- 
template erecting a wharf here, which would be a great benefit to the 
trade of the place, and aid in developing the wealth of the country. 
The trade is at present confined to shijjping wine, wool, and other 
products. 

SAN PEDP.O BAT, 

This bay is in Los Angeles county, three hundi-ed and seventy-three 
miles south of San Francisco. This harbor is formed by a spur from 
Point St. Vincent, which trends to the south about eight miles, and 



GEOGKAPHY AND TOPOGEAPHY. 81 

Deaclman's Island, -wliicli lies across its end, wliile the mainland on 
this portion of the coast, trending to the southeast, forms a capacious 
bay, sheltered from all except the southerly winds — the most dangerous 
along that coast during the fall and winter. The water for several 
miles from the mainland, is very shallow, vessels being compelled to 
anchor about two miles off shore, but there is plenty of water and good 
anchorage near the island. All the freight and passengers, by steamers 
and sailing vessels, are placed on board and landed by means of lighters. 
The port of San Pedro lost much of its importance in 1858, when the 
town of Wilmington was established, at the head of what is now called 
Wilmington bay, about four miles further inland, and nearer to the 
city of Los Angeles, but there is considerable trade there now. It is 
the port for the fishermen of Santa Catalina and Santa Barbara islands, 
and a large portion of the produce of Los Angeles and Santa Barbara 
counties is shipped and supplies landed here. It has been proposed 
to erect a breakwater at San Pedro, from Deadman's island to Rattle- 
snake island, about one and a quarter miles in length, running north 
and south, and from Fisherman's point, near the old San Pedro wharf, 
about half a mile in length, running east and west. Were these 
walls built, San Pedro would be the safest and most commodious har- 
bor on the southern coast. As this is the most convenient point for 
shipping the valuable produce of Los Angeles and San Bernardino 
counties, a safe and capacious harbor becomes a matter of importance 
connected with the development of the resources of that section of the 
State. The necessity for using lighters in shipping or landing freight 
does not conform to modern American ideas of commerce. As there is 
no remedy for the present condition of matters in this vicinity, except 
the construction of a breakwater, it is almost certain that one will soon 
be built. 

Anaheim landing, the center of the wine trade of Los Angeles, is 
located on the northern bank of the Santa Ana river, about ten miles 
south from Wilmington. Here, also, the water is so shallow that 
vessels are compelled to anchor three miles from the shore, all goods 
and passengers being landed in lighters or boats. The Anaheim 
Lighter Company does an extensive business in loading produce and 
landing supplies for the wine and fruit growers, farmers and stock 
raisers in the district. 

THE SAKTA BAEBAEA CHANNEIi. 

This roadstead is formed by the islands of San Miguel, Santa Eosa,. 
and Santa Cruz, which are about twenty miles from and parallel with 
6 



82 THE NATURAL WE^^l.TH OF CAXIFORKTA. 

tlie mainland, soutli of Point Concepcion, wliere the coast line trends 
almost due east for about sixty miles. This channel affords shelter 
on the north and south, but is exposed from the east and west. 
There is plenty of water and good holding ground in the middle of the 
channel, but the whole coast, nearly as far down as San Diego, is shal- 
low for several miles from the shore. 

There is a good wharf at the town of Santa Barbara, which runs 
out nearly one thousand feet, and enables vessels drawing twelve feet 
of water to load and unload alongside. This section of the State, 
being chiefly devoted to cattle and sheep raising, the shipping business 
is not very extensive. "Wool and hides form leading items in the exports. 

The extensive deposits of asphaltum which exist on this section of 
the coast give employment to several vessels in supplying the demand 
for the San Francisco market, where it is largely used for paving and 
other purposes. The vessels engaged in this business load from the 
beach, where they collect the material. The following plan for loading 
asphaltum will explain the nature of the coast in this vicinity, and be 
interesting as an illustration of Yankee inventiveness. The proprie- 
tor of a large deposit of this mineral found it impossible to get it on 
board vessels to send to a market. The breakers, which ciarl with great 
fury for miles along the coast, stove all the boats he used, and the shore 
was so hard and rocky that piles could not be driven to make a wharf, 
and the vessels were compelled to lay too far out to make a coimection 
with the shore. As a last resource, he hit upon an expedient. Having 
a number of yoke of well trained oxen, they are made to haul a large 
cart containing three or four tons of asphaltum through the surf 
beyond the breakers, where boats from the vessel are in waiting to 
receive it, the oxen standing up to their ears in the salt water whilo 
the boats are being loaded. About twenty tons a day are loaded in this 
manner. 

At San Buenaventura, about twenty-five miles southeast from Santa 
Barbara, there is a landing at which it is contemplated to build a wharf 
to connect with a road from this place to Owens' valley, via Havilah, 
Kern county. Should this project be carried out, it woidd greatly 
increase the importance of Santa Barbara as a shipping port 

SAN IitHS OBISPO BAT. 

San Luis Obispo bay is a small, open indentation on.the coast-line, 
with good anchorage and plenty of water, south of Point San Luis, a 
:spur of Mount Buchon, which projects five or six miles to the west- 
^ward, affording sheltei' fi-om northerly gales. It is in San Luis Obispo 



GEOGKAPEY AOT) TOPOGRAPHY. 83 

COTinty, about two hundred miles south of San Francisco, but is of 
little importance as a harbor. 

About ten mUes further north is Estero bay, formed by a bold head- 
land terminating the Santa Lucia mountains, which projects to the 
north-west, and thus affords a much better shelter than San Luis bay. 
A deep lagoon runs inland three or four miles behind Estero point, in 
which there is excellent anchorage and good conveniences for a road 
and landing. This lagoon is sheltered from all points, except the 
south. The California, Oregon and Mexico Steamship Company have 
had this place surveyed, with a view of making it a refuge for theia: 
vessels during the prevalence of northerly and westerly gales ; such a 
place of safety being very much required on this portion of the coast. 

There are a number of other places between Estero point and San 
Pedro, which are well adapted for coasting harbors, but they afford 
little shelter from the most dangerous winds that blow along that part 
of the coast. 

MONTBBEY BAY. 

Monterey bay is ninety-two miles south of San Francisco. It is a 
broad, open bay, about thirty miles wide, circular in form. Point 
Pinos forming its southern, and Point New Year its northern head- 
lands. Santa Cruz harbor is near the latter, and Carmelo bay near 
the former. These afford shelter to vessels, from certain quarters, 
but the bay of Monterey is exposed to all except easterly winds. 
There are a number of points around this bay, where coasting vessels 
carry on an extensive business. There are wharves erected for their 
accommodation, at Watson ville, Soquel, Miller's landing, Pajaro, (at 
the mouth of the Pajaro river, the port of the rich valley of that name, ) 
and Millard's point. The wharf at Aptos creek is eleven hundred feet 
in length, from low-tide water. Considerable improvements have 
been made at Monterey wharf, which is now carried out to deep water. 
Before this improvement, passengers and freight were landed, from 
little boats, on the rocks along the shore. 

The wharves at the mouth of the Salinas river have also been 
greatly improved. The dimensions of this river increase so greatly 
during the winter season, as to make it a risljy business to build ex- 
pensive wharves along its shores. Its usual width, at the entrance of 
the bay, is about four hundred and fifty feet. In 1862, during the wet 
season, it exceeded a mile. 

The bay is safest and most sheltered in front of the town of Mon- 
terey, under the lee of Point Pinos, but the trade is not in that direc- 
tion. Carmelo bay, on the other side of this point, is also tolerably 



84 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA. 

well sheltered, but it is uot convenient for shipping. This little bay 
is one of the most delightful places along the coast. The mission of 
San Carlos was located here, its massive ruins still remaining to show 
the taste and skill of its early builders. It was from this bay that 
the granite used for building purjDOses at San Francisco, was obtained, 
before the discovery of the quarries at Folsom. 

One of the most pleasant trips for a summer day is across Mon- 
terey bay, from Santa Cruz to the old town of Monterey. The two 
places are twenty-one miles distant by water, but forty-five miles by 
land. The water is so joeculiarly transparent that the rocks, pebbles, 
and mosses at the bottom, are distinctly seen, to the depth of nearly 
twenty feet, while the shore of the bay in the vicinity of the old town 
is bold, rocky, and exceedingly picturesque. The town itself is located 
in a sort of nook on the side of a gently sloping hill, every house in it 
being visible from the water. It is surrounded by lofty hills, crested 
with pine and redwood, which lend a peculiar charm to the scene, 
embracing the clear waters of the bay in the foreground, with the dark, 
moss-covered rocks along the shore, and the hill side dotted with the 
white dwellings in the city, surmounted by the dark green belt of tim- 
ber which forms a fringe against the pale blue sky. Beyond the beaiity 
of the scenery and the interest felt in. the place, there is little to attract 
strangers to Monterey. 

Several parties of whalers have had their headquarters in this bay 
for some years past. They ship from five hundred to fifteen hundred 
barrels of oil annually to San Francisco. If the contemplated break- 
water, near Santa Cruz, is ever completed, Monterey bay will become 
of great importance to the commerce of the coast. 

SANTA CETJZ HAKBOE. 

Santa Cruz harbor is eighty miles south of San Francisco. It is 
situated at the northern extremity of Monterey bay, in Santa Cruz 
county, latitude 36° 57', on the westerly slope of the Santa Cruz ridge 
of the coast range. It is one of the most important ports on the 
southern coast, being the outlet for the products of an extensive section 
of the richest agricultural and timber lands in the State, and the seat 
of a rapidly expanding manufacturing interest. Over one third of all 
the lime used at San Francisco, is shipped from this port, and there 
are extensive manufactories of powder, paper, leather, and a number 
of lumber-mills, which ship their products and receive their supplies 
from this place, giving employment to a large amount 6f tonnage — 
both sailing vessels and steamers. 



GEOGEAPHT AKD TOPOGEAPET. 85 

Tlie San Lorenzo, a beautiful stream of fresh water, wliicli in its 
course affords motive power to numerous factories erected along its 
bants, passes thi'ough tlie town of Santa Cruz, into the bay of 
Monterey. 

This harbor is small, but has twenty-four feet of water at low tide, 
with good anchorage, and is well sheltered except from the southwest, 
which makes it dangerous to enter or leave during the prevalence of 
winds from that quarter. 

It is in contemplation to erect a breakwater, to protect this exposed 
portion. The officers of the United States coast survey have made 
several examinations of the locality for this purpose. It has been 
suggested that a wall, extending from Seal Eock point for two thousand 
feet, eastward, across the bay of Monterey, and a few feet above high 
water-mark, woidd make this a safe resort for vessels during the south- 
erly gales, so dangerous along the coast, and from which there is no 
place of shelter at present. The erection of a light on Seal Bock 
point, or some other suitable place in the vicinity, has become a neces- 
sity, i]i consequence of the increasing importance of the trade of Santa 
Cruz — second only to that of San Francisco. 

HALF MOON BAY. 

This bay is in San Mateo county, forty-six miles south of San Eran- 
cisco. It is of little importance as a harbor, but is a most convenient 
point for shipping grain, produce, and lumber, from that portion of 
the coast to San Francisco. Spanish town, quite a thriving place, is 
located at the landing on this bay. 

dbake's bat. 
Drake's bay is in Marin county, south of Point Reyes, and thirty 
miles north of the Golden Gate. It is of no importance, except as 
being the place where the great English navigator, whose name it bears, 
landed. It is sometimes called Jack's harbor, a name given to it by 
the fishermen, who resort there to follow their vocation. 

TOMAIiES BAT. 

This bay is forty-five miles north of San Francisco, in Marin 
county, latitude 38^ 15'. It is formed by an inlet of the Pacific ocean, 
which here penetrates the Coast Bange about sixteen miles, nearly to 
the center of Marin county, averaging about a mile and a quarter wide 
for about twelve miles from the entrance, which is less than half a mile 
wide. There is a bar at the mouth of this entrance, having eleven feet 
of water at low tide. 



86 THE NATUBAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENU. 

It is perfectly land-locked, and sheltered from all winds. It lias 
two small islands about three mUes from the entrance, about two acres 
in extent, which are covered with verdure. Its safety, and the beauty 
of the surrounding, scenery, makes it a sort of miniature copy of the 
bay of San Francisco. 

The surrounding country is famous for its agricultural products, 
particularly butter, of which article Mai'in produces more than any 
other county in the State. 

The lands around this beautiful little bay are high, but gently un- 
dulating in outline. The hills, being covered with grass and wild 
oats, afford pasturage for extensive flocks and herds. 

Preston's point, on the east side of the bay, and about three miles 
from its entrance, named in honor of K. J. Preston, the pioneer settler 
in the district, is destined to become the site of an important agricul- 
tural trade. There is a good wharf here, eleven feet of water along- 
side, where there is generally quite a fleet of schooners, loading pro- 
duce for the San Francisco market, this being the most convenient 
shipping port for Bloomfield, distant only nine miles, and for a number 
of villages scattered throughout this section of the county. Olema, 
one of the most thriving towns in the county, is located immediately at 
the head of this bay. Four miles from its south-east shore, on the 
banks of a beautiful stream of water — the Tokeluma, which flows from 
Mount Tamalpais — is located the Pioneer paper-mill of California. 

BODEGA BAY. 

This harbor is formed by a narrow spit of land, about two miles 
in length, which projects from the south of Bodega Head and extends 
to within three miles of the spit which forms the western ' side of To- 
males bay. The two bays are reached through the same entrance, 
between these spits. It is very much smaller, and scarcely as well 
sheltered as Tomales bay, being open to the southerly gales, which 
sometimes blow with considerable violence during the fall. It has but 
nine feet of water at low tide. The Russians selected the point of land 
forming the western side of this harbor for their settlement, which 
they maintained from 1812 to 1841. 

A considerable trade is carried on in the shipment of produce, there 
being good anchorage and wharf accomodation for vessels engaged 
in the business. The town of Bodega is located at the head of this 
bay about fifty miles distant fi'om San Francisco. 



GEOGEAPHT AND TOPOGBAPHY. 87 

HUMBOLDT BAT. 

Humboldt bay is two hundred and twenty-ttree miles north of San 
Francisco, in Humboldt county, latitude 40°44:'. It is a securely land- 
locked harbor — ^the best on the northern coast — formed by two densely 
timbered peninsulas, which enclose a very handsome bay, about twelve 
miles in length, and from two to five miles in width, its shores thickly 
timbered with magnificent pine and redwood, to the water's edge. 
The entrance to this bay is about a quarter of a mile wide, with eigh- 
teen feet of water at low tide. It is somewhat difficult for sailing ves- 
sels to make this entrance at certain seasons, but there are powerful 
tow boats belonging to the port which are always on hand when 
required. The upper portion of this bay is quite shallow, but there is 
plenty of water and good anchorage along the lower portions. There 
is an extensive trade in lumber, salmon, and produce carried on here, 
as well as considerable ship building. 

The Elk and Jacoby rivers passing through a good agricultural 
country, empty into this bay, and there are several good roads con- 
necting it with the interior. Eureka, the county seat, and Areata, are 
located on the shores of the bay. The Eel river settlement is about 
forty miles distant, inland. This important harbor was not discovered 
until 1850, when a party of prospectors, among whom was a lumberman 
from New Brunswick, while searching for gold, saw it, and perceiving 
the advantages it presented for obtaining and shipping lumber, they 
abandoned gold hunting, and set to work cutting timber. The first log 
was cut in July, 1850; since that time, 400,000,000 feet have been sent 
to market, vessels loading in the bay for the Sandwich Islands, China, 
Australia, and Central America, as well as for San Francisco. 

TErNIDAD BAT. 

Trinidad bay is an open roadstead, sheltered to some extent from 
the north by a point of land extending at an acute angle about a mile 
to the south. The town of Trinidad is located at the base of this point. 
It is in Klamath county, two hundred and thirty-nine miles north of 
San Francisco, in latitude 41°03'. It has better anchorage and deeper 
water than Crescent City, from which it is distant about forty miles. 
The principal trade of the place is in lumber of which the county pro- 
duces large quantities, most of it being shipped from this point. 

CRESCENT CITT KABBOE. 

This is an open roadstead, in Del Norte county, two hundred and 
eighty miles north of San Francisco, in latitude 41°30', near the 



88 THE NATUKAL WEALTH OF CAJLIFOENIA. 

extreme northern boundary of the State. The harbor is formed by 
Point St. George, a bold headland projecting nearly a mile to the 
west, on the south of which a plain about twenty miles in length, and 
from six to seven miles in width, forms the coast line. Crescent City, 
the county seat, is located on the south of this plain. A considerable 
trade is carried on with the mining districts in the mountains adjoin- 
ing, in both Oregon and California, this being the nearest place for 
obtaining supplies. 

The mountain regions, comprising about nine tenths of the county, 
also produce large quantities of redwood, pine, and fir, that make 
excellent timber, which is shipped from this port in considerable 
quantities. There are good wharf accomodations for vessels to load, 
but the harbor being exposed to the fury of the southwesterly, gales, 
it is not safe when the wind blows from that quarter. In 1862, a vio- 
lent gale destroyed nearly four hundred feet of the wharf, which was, 
at that time, thirteen hundred feet in length. It has been gi-eatly 
extended and improved since. 

The anchorage is indifferent, and the water along the coast, south 
of the point, so shallow that vessels drawing twelve feet of water are 
not safe within half a mile of the shore, except at the wharves in front 
of Crescent City. 

rMPEOVEMENTS TO BE MADE. 

The subject of improving the harbors along the coast bounding this 
State, and establishing places of refuge in which the large fleet of 
steamers and sailing vessels engaged in the coasting trade can find 
shelter in emergencies, appears to be attracting the attention of the 
Federal government. Several examinations have recently been made 
by officers especially detailed for this purpose. In view of the rapidly 
expanding foreign and domestic commerce of California, which is 
exceeded by that of few States in the Union at present, it would 
appear to be the dxitj of the government, independent of all political 
considerations, to have everything done that is necessary to afford secu- 
rity or facilities to the shipping engaged in this commerce. It is urged 
by those most interested in this matter, that lights are required at 
Point Eeyes, at Santa Cruz, and at San Pedro, and that breakwaters be 
built on the north of Monterey bay, and at the mouth of the harbor of 
San Pedro. From the outline of the coast harbors given in the fore- 
going, the necessity for these improvements appears obvious. 



GEOGEAPHY AND TOPOGEAPHT. 89 



ISLANDS ON THE COAST OF CALITOENIA. 

The Farallones consist of two clusters, comprising seven islands, 
tlie nearest of -whicli is about twenty miles west from the Golden Gate. 
They are all utterly destitute of soil and vegetation, consisting of 
bare, rugged rocks, which are the resort of immense numbers of sea- 
lions, and of myriads of birds, the eggs of Avhich at one time were 
a source of great profit to those who collected them. As many as 
25, 000 dozen were collected in some seasons lasting from the middle 
of May until the middle of June, which sold at from thirty to fifty cents 
per dozen. The southernmost of the group is the largest, containing 
about two acres, and is also the nearest to the coast. On this there is 
a first-class lighthouse, to warn the mariner of the dangers of the 
locality. 

,. No water fit for drinking, except such as was collected from rains 
and fogs, was obtainable on any of these islands until 1867, when some 
of the egg-gatherers discovered a spring on the main island, within a 
half-mile of the lighthouse. The water from this spring, which is of a 
pale amber color, and pleasant to the taste, possesses important medi- 
cinal qualities : by analysis, it is found to contain chlorides of sodium, 
lime, and magnesia, with traces of sulphate of ammonium and free 
hydrochloric acid. 

There are no other islands on the coast of California north of Point 
Concepcion. South of that headland, there are two groups, the most 
northerly consisting of the islands of San Miguel, on the west ; Santa 
Eosa, in the center; and Santa Cruz, on the east. They are nearly in 
a line, parallel with, and about twenty miles distant from the main- 
land, in Santa Barbara county, and form the southern boundary of the 
Santa Barbara channel. 

Santa Cruz, the largest of this group, is twenty-one miles in length, 
and four miles wide, and has a rugged surface. The Messrs. Barron, 
of San Francisco, who own this island, graze about thirty thousand 
sheep upon it. 

Santa Eosa is fifteen miles in length, and nearly ten miles wide. 
Its surface is tolerably level, and produces a thick crop of coarse grass 
and low bushes ; but its steep, nigged sides, which rise nearly two 
hundred feet almost perpendicularly, afi'ord no good landing place. 
This island was once inhabited by a large tribe of Indians, who, until 
1840, furnished "the currency for all the tribes along that section of the 
coast, and from the Tulare valley. This currency was called ponga, 



90 THE NATURAL WE.U.TH OF CALIFOEXLi.. 

and was made of the liard sliell of a species of edible moUusca, wliich 
abounds along the southern coast. These shells were rounded, had a 
hole made in the middle, and were strung on fibres of wild hemp. 
This was the only cui-rency in the couutiy xmtil 1820. Santa Eosa is 
now inhabited by several Mexican families, who raise a considerable 
number of cattle, besides herding ten thousand sheep. 

San Miguel is nearly eight miles long, and from two to three miles 
wide. It is almost a barren rock ; but several thousand sheep man- 
age to subsist upon the limited pastarage growing on the island. About 
forty miles southeast from the above cluster of islands, and off the 
coast opposite Los Angeles county, are the islands of San Nicolas and 
Santa Barbara, and still fm-ther in the same direction are Santa Cata- 
lina and San Clemente. These are not so close together, or as near 
the shore, as the others. 

San Nicolas, the most western, is nearly sixty miles from the main 
land. It is eight miles in length, by about four miles in width. I^ 
surface is a flat ridge, nearly six hundred feet high, tapering down in 
rocky ledges to the sea. It is occupied as a sheep ranch; about eight 
thousand of these animals appear to thrive on the scant herbage it pro- 
duces. 

Santa Barbara lies about half-way, and nearly in line, between the 
main land and San Nicolas. It is nearly circular in outline, and about 
two miles in diameter at the base; its surface, on the top, containing 
about thirty acres. It is about five hundred feet high — steep and 
rocky on all sides, and is tenanted by swarms of sea-lions, gulls, and 
other aquatic birds. 

Santa Catalina, the largest island of this group, is about four hun- 
dred miles south from San Francisco, and twenty-five miles from San 
Pedi'o, its nearest point to the main land. It is nearly twenty-eight 
miles in length, about seven miles wide on its southern, and two 
miles on its northern end. Its surface is rough and uneven, some 
points being three thousand feet above the sea-level, but contains sev- 
eral small valleys which are under cultivation, fruit-trees and vege- 
tables thriving in these sheltered places, while quite large flocks of 
sheep find pasturage among the surrounding hUls. There is a small 
stream of pure water rimning nearly through its entire length ; it also 
has a number of springs of fresh water. The moimtains contain several 
large veins of white quartz, in which there are numerous dej)osits of 
argentiferous galena and copper ores. Wild goats, hogs, and quail 
abound in the upper portion of the hills. It has two good harbors near 
its center — Catalina bay on the south, and Union bay on the north — 



GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 91 

wliicli are separated by an isthmus about half a mile ■wide. It was 
taken possession of by the United States, for military purposes, in 
January, 1864 and a company of soldiers have been stationed there 
since. This island, when first discovered, was inhabited by a tribe of 
Indians, who carried on quite a trade with the natives of the mainland, 
by means of large canoes. Not a relic of the race remains. 

San Clemente, the most southern, lies about fifty miles from the 
main land, off San Diego county. It is twenty-two miles in length, by 
about two miles in width, being but little more than a series of rocky 
peaks, some of which rise upwards of one thousand feet above the 
- level of the sea. It contains neither soil, vegetation, nor water. It is 
occasionally visited by seal-hunters, who make considerable quantities 
of oil from some of the animals found there. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE COUNTIES OF CALIFOKOTA. 

Southern, (Joast, Noiihem, Mountaiu and Valley Counties. Southern Counties : San Diego 
— San Bernardino — Los Angeles — Santa Barbara — San Luis Obispo — Kern. Coast Couu- 
ties: Monterey — Santa Cruz — Santa Clara — San Mateo — San Francisco — Alameda — 
' Contra Costa — Marin — Sonoma — Napa — Lake — Mendocino. Northern Counties : Hum- 
boldt — Trinity — Klamath — Del Norte — Siskiyou — Shasta — Lassen. Mountain Counties: 
Plumas — Sien-a — Nevada — Placer — El Dorado — Amador — Alpine — Calaveras — Tuol- 
umne — Mariposa — Mono — Inyo. Valley Counties : Tehama — Butte — Colusa — Sutter — 
Yuba — Yolo — Solano— Sacramento — San Joaquin — Stanislaus — Merced — Fresno — Tu- 
lare. 

The great extent and pectdiar topogi-aphical features of California 
cause some districts witliin its limits to differ so Avidely from others in 
soil, climate, and natural jDroductions, that it is necessary to make a 
classification of the counties into which it is divided, in order to con- 
vey a clear idea of its resources and capabilities. 

The semi-tropical heat, scant vegetation, and laroad arid plains of 
San Diego and San Bernardiao counties, on the south, are as much in 
contrast with the cold, pine-covered mountain regions of Del Norte 
county, on the north, as the State of Maine is in contrast ■ndth Florida. 
The coimties embracing the crests of the Sierra Nevada, which have a 
climate of almost polar severity, inhabited solely on account of their 
mineral wealth, cannot, with propriety, be classed with those among 
the foot hills, which are as important for their agricultural as for their 
mineral resoui-ces ; nor can these be classed with those in the Coast 
Eange, or with those in the great central A^alley. 

This extraordinary diversity of climate and soil, the dividing lines 
of which are so difficult to define, enables California to produce in per- 
fection the grains, fruits, and vegetables peculiar to all countries — the 
olive, orange, pomegranate, cotton, and tobacco, flourishing in close 
proximity to the potato, wheat, flax, and rye — and insui-es the gi-owth 
of the finest wools in districts where the vegetation is of a tropical 
character. 



COUNTIES OF CAIIFOKNIA. 93 

Tlie unavoidable difference in the form and dimensions of the 
fifty counties into which the State is divided, renders it impossible to 
make more than an approximate partition of its territory according to 
climate or products, but as they are well defined and generally recog- 
nized, they are adopted in preference to making arbitrary lines. 

SOUTHERN COttNTIES. 

San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Santa -Barbara, San Luis 
Obispo, and Kern counties, comprise what is generally considered 
Southern California. Although only sis in -number, these counties, em- 
brace nearly one-third of the territoiy of the State. They comtain 
above 50, 000 square miles, or more than 30, 000, 000 acres of land, three 
fourths of which is adapted to agricultural or gra2ang purposes — much 
of it being the very garden of the State, producing the greatest variety 
of fruits, grain and vegetables. 

The proportions of this important division of California not being 
clearly apparent through the above figures, we make the following 
comparison between them and some of the Atlantic States, because, 
although figures never lie, they do not always tell the whole truth: 
Massachusetts contains 7,800 square miles; Connecticut, 4,674; Ehode 
Island, 1,306; Vermont, 10,212; New Hampshire, ^,280; New Jersey, 
8,320; Delaware, 2,120, and Maryland, 11,124; a total of 54, 836 square 
miles for eight Atlantic States. These sis southern .counties of Cali- 
fornia contain nearly as much territory as all of those States, and a 
great deal more than either of the great Sta,tes of New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, or, Ohio. The present population of these counties does not 
- esceed twenty-five thousand. 

COAST COtrNTTES. 

Monterey, Santa Cruz^ Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, 
Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Lake, and Mendocino 
counties, located along the Coast Eange, are classed under this head. 
They embrace only a small portion of the territory of the State, but 
contain the greater portion of its wealth and population, and are the 
chief centers of its trade, commerce, and manufactures. 

NOETHEEN COtrNTXES- 

Humboldt, Trinity, Elamath, Del Norte, Siskiyou, Shasta, and Las- 
sen counties, comprise Northern California. They embrace a territory 
extending from the fortieth to the forty-&econd parallel of north lati- 
tude, and from the one hundred and twentieth to the one hundred and 
twenty-fifth degree of longitude, west. 



94 THE NATUr..\L WE.VLTPI OF CALIFOENLV. 

MOUNTAIN COUNTIES. 

Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Amador, Alpine, Cala- 
veras, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Mono, and Inyo, embracing the main chain 
of the Sierra Nevada mountains, are considered the mountain coun- 
ties. They are comparatively small in size, and although containing 
nearly all the important gold and silver mines in the State, the whole 
territory of the ten principal mining counties is not as large as that of 
the pastoral county of San Bernardino. 

4 VALIiET COUNTIES. 

Tehama, Butte, Colusa, Sutter, Tuba, Tolo, Solano, Sacramento, 
San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Fresno, and Tulare counties, located 
in the great central valleys, between the Sierra Nevada and the coast 
ranges, are classed as valley coimties. 



SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 

SAN DIEGO COUNTY. 

San Diego county comprises the most southern portion of the State. 
It extends along the border separating it from the peninsula of Lower 
California, from the Pacific Ocean on the west, to the Colorado river, 
on the east — a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. Prom north to 
south the county is one hundred miles in length. It is bounded on 
the north by San Bernardino county, on the east by Ai-izona, on 
the west by the Pacific Ocean, and contains 8, 500, 000 acres, of which 
the Colorado desert covers about 2,500,000 acres, about 4,000,000 
of acres are mountains and caiions, and some 2, 000, 000 consist of level 
plains and valleys along the Coast Piange, or among the mountains, 
suitable for farming or grazing. 

Two unnamed branches of the Coast Eange, passing through the 
county from north to south, separate it into thi-ee divisions, which difier 
as much from each other in climate, soil, and topogi-aphical featiires, 
as if they were in different 23ortions of the globe. The division border- 
ing the coast line forms a broad belt, nearly twenty-five miles wide, a very 
considerable portion of which consists of level plains or gently sloping 
valleys, which are watered by the San Bernardo, San Diego, San Luis 
Bey, Margarita, Sweetwater, and other rivers, some of which are per- 
manent streams, others dry up during the summer. The gi-eater por- 
tion of the land in this division is adapted for agricultural and grazing 
pui-poses. Most of it is unoccupied. 



COUNTIES OF CAIIFOENIA. 95 

The central, or mountain division, is very irregular in outline, and 
averages nearly forty miles in width. It contains extensive tracts of 
good farming land. The Santa Isabel district, about seventy miles 
easterly from the town of San Diego, embraces a number of broad 
valleys, or rather table lands, which lie between the two main ridges of 
the mountains, at an elevation of three thousand to four thousand feet 
above the level of the sea. The culminating peak of these ranges. 
Mount San Jacinto, is five thousand five hundred feet high. This dis- 
trict enjoys a delightful climate. The vine, orange, wheat, and barley, 
are among its products. It is the best agi'icultural district in the 
county. 

The mountains are covered with -forests of oak, cedar, pine and fir. 
Gold, silver, copper, and other minerals have been found in many 
places, in both ranges. 

To the east of this mountain division, lies the great Colorado desert, 
extending to the borders of the State on the south and east. This 
desert, though treeless and arid for many miles along its northern 
and western borders, consists of a rich, fertile soil on the south and 
east. It is evidently a delta formed by the confluence of the Gila and 
Colorado rivers, which once flowed over it, but have cut a new channel 
for themselves in another direction, although this desert is still 
below the level of the waters of the gulf into which they both flow. 
This curious fact induced Dr. O. M. Wozencraft to entertain the idea 
that he could reclaim the greater portion of this land by cutting a canal 
from the Colorado, to irrigate it. This subject was before Congress, 
in 1858 and 1859, and received favorable action, but the project was 
never carried out, although it is entirely practicable, and will doubtless 
be accomplished some day. 

This desert, shut off from the benefits of the sea breezes by the 
high peaks of the Coast Range, which condense all the moisture from 
the air before it passes their limits, is the hottest place in the State. 
The thermometer at Fort Yuma, located at its south-east corner, some- 
times reaches 122° Fahrenheit, in the shade, during the summer ; but 
this great heat does not affect the health of the inhabitants, or prevent 
them attending to their affairs. 

Great changes have taken place in the topography of this desert 
district, within the past thirty years, and others are still in progress. 
In 1840, it was partially submerged by the waters of the Colorado. 
The New river, through which a portion of these waters now finds its 
way to the sea, had no existence until that year. A number of large 
lagoons remained for several years after that inundation. The north- 



96 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF C.VLIFORNIA, 

ern portion of this desert is one of the most interesting districts in" the 
State, for observing many of the ciirious operations of Nature. About 
sixty miles from Warner's ranch, and a few miles southwest from Dos 
Palmas, a station on the La Paz road, there is a broad valley, bounded 
by ranges of hills of hard-baked, red clay, called the Chocolate and 
Coyote mountains ; and in this valley is the dry bed of a lake forty 
miles in circumference, which is nearly sixty feet below the level of tha 
sea. This great basin is separated from the dry beds of a number of 
creeks, which appear to have once been connected with it by a level 
plain, about five miles wide. Nearly in the center of this plain there 
is a lake of boiling mud, about half a mile in length by about five hun- 
dred yards in width. In this curious cauldron the thick, gi-eyish mud 
is constantly in motion, hissing and bubbling, with jets of . boiling 
water and clouds of sulphurous vapor and steam bursting through the 
tenacious mud, and rising high in the air with reports often heard a 
considerable distance. The whole district around this lake appears 
to be underlaid with this mud, as it trembles under foot, and subter- 
ranean noises are heard in all directions. Hot springs and sulphur 
deposits are numerous for many miles around this lake. In 1867, a 
large spring of cool, pure water, commenced flowing from a fissure in 
a high bluff of rocks, a few hiindred yards from the station at Dos 
Palmas, where there had been no water before. There had been no 
earthquake or unusual subterranean disturbance, to account for such a 
phenomenon, which is all the more strange from the fact that none of 
the wells sunk in any part of the desert, contain sweet water : it being 
always so impregnated with alkali as to be very unpleasant to the taste. 
The whole section around these springs and mud volcanoes, appears to 
be gradually rising. 

From Warner's ranch, a town located on the eastern side of the 
Coast Kange, near Warner's pass, on the Fort Tuma road, at the west- 
em edge of this desert, for about thirty miles south to VaUacito, the 
country has a less desolate appearance. The coast mountains, covered 
with timber and chaparral, skirt the desert on its western side, and 
take from it the monotonous and dreary character which marks the 
broad, sandy plains beyond this point, where the coiintry is indeed 
a desert, without a sign of animal or vegetable life, or a drop of water, 
for nearly sixty miles. This long stretch of hot, shifting, alkaline 
sand, was a terror toytravelers until the Government, in 1850, caused 
several wells to be sunk at a place since kno^ii as Sackett's wells, 
about forty miles from Vallecito, which fm-nished a fair supply of 
water, such as it was, till June, 1867, when a terrible sand-storm 



COUNTIES OF CALEFOEKIA. 97 

covered the wliole country in that vicinity with a bed of sand several 
inches deep, obliterating the wells and all the landmarks around them. 
The shifting sands on this portion of the desert, when disturbed by 
the tempests which frequently pass over them, are as dangerous to 
travelers as the fearful siroccos which sweep over the deserts of 
Arabia, and change the whole appearance of the country in a few 
hours, obliterating roads and landmarks intended for the guidance of 
the wayfarer. 

Near the boundary-line towards Arizona, after crossing the New 
river, the appearance of the country changes completely. Although 
still in the desert district, it is no longer a desert; but the vegetable 
and animal life are strange in form and habits. Instead of the shifting 
sand, there is a soil of greyish tint, nearly as hard and compact as 
brick, covered with a scant crop of short, wiry grass, among which 
grow an infinite variety of cacti, of all shapes and sizes — from the 
slender "rat-tail" to great squat lumps as large as nail kegs, and 
about as handsome in form, all covered with spines and prickles, as if 
Nature had tried to make them as hateful as possible. The mesquite 
also grows luxuriantly in this section, giving it a forest-like appear- 
ance as compared with the sandy plains. The Indians from Arizona and 
Lower California, pay this portion of the desert a visit each fall, to 
collect a winter's supply of the nutritious beans of this tree. Here, too, 
may be seen swarms of paroquets, orioles, and other birds, of the most 
brilliant plumage, which aid in giving the whole scene a decidedly 
tropical character. 

The town of San Diego, located near the harbor of the same name, 
is the oldest settled place in the State. It was established in May, 
1769, by the missionaries, when they founded the first California 
mission — located about six miles inland from the town. San Diego, 
the Spanish for St. James, the titular saint for this mission, gives 
his name to the county, town, and bay. It was called Cosoy by 
the aborigines, of whom many thousands lived on the coast plains 
when the missionaries arrived there. There are scarcely any there 
now. The town contains between 300 and 400 inhabitants, a large 
proportion of whom are Mexicans and native Californians. It is five 
hundred miles from San Francisco, and one hundred and twenty-five 
miles from Los Angeles. 

About a mile from the old town, and near the bay, is New San 
Diego, which has been built within a year or two, where the govern- 
ment storehouses and several substantial residences, and a new wharf, 
have been erected for the accommodation of trade. The California,. 
7 



98 THE NATURAL TVEALTH OF C-U:,IFORXIA. 

Oregon and Mexico Steamship Company are about to erect a wharf and 
warehouse, to conduct the increasing business of the port. 

There has been quite an increase in the number of settlers in the 
county, during the past year. Several of the old Mexican ranches, 
which embraced miles of good land, have been purchased and subdi- 
vided among American farmers, who will soon make it produce some- 
thing more valuable than hides and tallow. 

The mission near the old town had the largest and most beautifxd 
church, and buildings, on the coast. They covered several acres, and 
were surrounded by extensive gardens and orchards, which produced a 
great ^pijj^ty of fruits and flowers. The old church, now crumbling to 
ruins, affords evidence of the architectural skill of its reverend build- 
ers. Its bells, which for nearly three quarters of a centurj^ summoned 
the Indian to labor and prayer, were taken from the belfry as recently 
as 1866. The church property at present belongs to the Catholic 
bishop of the diocese. The old gardens are nearly all destroyed, only 
a few olive trees remaining to show where they had been. 

San Luis el Eey — or, more properly, San Luis Eey cle Fran^ia, in 
honor of Louis IX, of France, a warrior in the time of the crusades — is 
near the harbor of that name on the coast, about forty-six miles north 
from San Diego. It is located in a beautiful valley, about a mile mde, 
and twenty-four miles in length, through which passes a permanent 
stream of water, the San Luis river. The mission of San Luis Eey 
was located in this valley, at the head of which now stands the town 
of Pala. 

The orange, lemon, lime, citron, walnut, fig, olive, and other trop- 
ical fruits, grow to perfection in this valley, as well as wheat, barley, 
potatoes and corn, but it is only partially under cultivation. 

Temecula, about twenty miles north from Pala, is another town of 
■some little importance. It contains about sixty Americans, two hun- 
dred Mexicans, and nearly six hundred Indians. It was proposed to 
•establish a reservation at this place for the protection of the Indians, 
who are more numerous and better behaved here than in any other por- 
tion of the State. They live on rancherias, cultivate considerable land, 
and own many cattle, sheep and horses. This town is located on the bank 
of the San Margarita river, on the southern edge of a series of plains 
extending nearly forty miles to the eastward, which comprise some of 
the finest grazing lands in the southern portion of the State, being 
covered with wild oats, clover, and other nutritious grasses, fiu-nish- 
ing pasturage for thousands of cattle, horses, and sheep. These 
f)laius are w-atered by numerous lagoo!is, formed along the beds of 



COUNTIES OP CALIFOE^^:A. 99 

the rivers wliicli do not flow to tlie sea, except during tlio winter. 
Mucli of this fine land is owned by Mexicans, in large tracts. Some 
of these people live in the same style they did before the country be- 
came a State. One of these native rancheros, living near Temecula, 
who owns several leagues of these plains, and has nearly five thousand 
head of cattle grazing on theni, never saves a drop of milk, or makes a 
pound of butter — these being luxuries in little use here. 

"Warner's ranch is another small town, about forty-five miles east- 
erly from Temecula. 

Fort Yuma, a military post in the extreme southeast corner of the 
State, has caused a number of settlers to locate in that vicinity, where 
there are placer gold mines of some importance, in what is known as 
the Picachto district. 

The principal products of the county are cattle, sheep, hides, wool 
and tallow. The great distance from the central market at San Fran- 
cisco, and the limited home demand, render it unprofitable to raise the 
cereals for exportation. Oranges, olives, almonds, raisins and figs, 
can be cultivated with success in this county. It has a fine climate, 
rich soil, and a good harbor, and contains gold, silver and copper 
mines; but its resources are quite undeveloped, for want of population. 

SAN BEBNABDINO COXINTY. 

This is the largest county in the State, containing more than 
10, 000, 000 acres, about three-fourths of which consist of dry, desert 
valleys, volcanic ranges, and inaccessible mountains, though not whollv 
without mineral wealth. About 3,000,000 acres are covered hj the 
Coast Range and other mountains, portions of which are valuable for 
mining, grazing, and lumbering. ♦ Much of the finest land in the county 
is covered by extensive Mexican grants, some of which embrace tracts 
of eleven square leagues. These large ranches have been great impedi- 
ments in the way of settling the southern counties; but within the past 
year, there has been every opportunity offered to actual settlers, to 
purchase in subdivisions. 

The county, which was not organized until 1854, (prior to this, it 
formed part of Los Angeles county,) takes its name from a mission 
founded by an early Spanish settler named Lugos, who once owned the 
whole of the San Bernardino valley, cultivating it chiefly by Indian 
labor. This mission stands about ten miles southeast of the old town 
of San Bernardino. 

The county is bounded on the north by Inyo county, and the State 
of Nevada ; on the east by the Colorado river ; on the south, by San 



100 THE NATUE.VL WE^IXTH OF aU^IFOENIA. 

Diego county and on tbe west, by Kem and Los Angeles coun- 
ties. The Sierra Nevada makes a short, easterly curvature on the 
northwest of this county, leaving a tract of wild desert -"uid broken 
volcanic ranges on the north and east, nearly one hundred miles in 
length by one hundred miles in width, of which scarcely any portion is 
fit for human habitation; but, being rich in gold and silver, numerous 
mining districts have, from time to time, been laid out and partially 
developed. These mining districts are in the north of this great wil- 
derness. The Slate Eange, Washington, Argus, Telescope, Armagosa, 
Potosi, and several others, attracted some attention a few years since, 
but the country is such a miserable desert, without wood or water, 
that even gold, unless in large quantities, will not secure its permanent 
settlement. Nearly all of these districts have been abandoned, 
although some of them are known to be rich in the precious metals. 

The whole of this great range of country presents the appearance of 
having been broken and torn by subterranean fires, which melted the 
hard rocks into rough, jagged masses, after which they were submerged 
beneath the ocean for ages, until their extreme roughness was worn off 
by currents of water charged with sand and gravel, when they were 
again elevated above the water.s, covered with salt lagoons, drift sands, 
and great beds of gravel and mud. 

The numerous beds of dry lakes and creeks found in all directions, 
mark where these upraised waters passed away. Here and there, the 
cones of extinct volcanoes, heaps of pumice, obsidian, and fragments 
of lava, boiling mud-holes, hot springs, and deposits of sulphur, show 
that the subterranean fires, which probably uplifted and depressed the 
country, have not entirely ceased their operations. 

There is, probably, no portion of the State less inviting to the 
traveler, than this northern section of San Bernardino county. The 
vegetation is scant, and altogether different from that gi-owing in the 
south-west corner of the county. The yucca (yucca baccafa), the 
small-nut pine (pinus edulis), and western juniper (juniper occidenialis), 
are all that approach in size to a tree, and these only grow sparsely 
among the granite ranges along the Mohave, and at a few other places 
among the mountains. The yucca is the most abundant. This curious 
plant is a variety of palm; it grows from five to fifteen feet high, with a 
stem from six inches to a foot in diameter, having from two to five 
branches ; its leaves, which resemble the blade of a bayonet, hang 
down the side of the stem, giving it a rugged, uncouth appearance. 
This tree forms a staple article of fuel over hundreds of miles of this 
Qountry. 



COUNTIES OF CALITOENU. 101 

Tlie sink of the Mohave, or Soda lake, lies in this section of Sau 
Bernardino county. The Mohave river flows from Bear valley, running 
through caiions, over and under the surface, for more than one hundred 
miles before it reaches the lake. This lalce is about five miles wide, by 
about twenty miles in length. Although called a lake, it never con- 
tains any water, the whole stream of the river, during the rainy season, 
sinking beneath the alkaline soil as fast as it flows in. In 1867, the 
waters of this river were lower than they had been known for many 
years, notwithstanding the rains were heavier than usual. A number 
of new openings in the earth have been discovered along its course, 
through which the waters passed, leaving many springs dry that 
were ncTer known to fail before. This fact corroborates our remarks 
concerning the gradual rising of the Colorado desert, referred to in the 
topography of San Diego county. The entire surface of this Soda lake 
is covered with carbonate of soda, to such a depth as to give it the 
appearance of a snow drift. 

The great Death valley, in the north of this county, extends into 
Inyo in its northeastern corner. This frightful place, according to the 
surveys of Major Williamson, is from one hundred to two hundred and 
fifty feet below the level of the ocean, while, but seventy miles west of 
it are clustered a number of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada, 
many of which are from 12, 000 to 15, 000 feet in height. These facts 
will afford some idea of the wild confusion of mountains, caiions, and 
depressions that mark the topography of this portion of the State. 

This valley, which owes its name to the melancholy fate of a large 
party of immigrants, who perished from thirst within its limits, in 1849, 
is one hundred miles long by twenty miles wide. For forty-five miles 
in length, and iifteen miles in width, along its center, it is a salt marsh, 
with a thin layer of soil covering an ^^nkno^^•n depth of soft gray mud. 
The Amargoza river sinks into this marsh. The sides of the valley are 
steep and barren, a few mesquite, growing among the sands at its head, 
being all the vegetation to be seen, Its western bank is formed of 
gravel and hardened mud; on the east it is bounded by high moun. 
tains of slate and granite. There is no water fit to drink for many 
miles, and although there are numerous springs, they are all intensely 
alkaline. The whole surface of the valley, except the marsh in the 
center, is covered with sand and gravel, and is scarred in all directions 
with deep grooves, which appear to have been made by freshets, caused 
by heavy storms, or bursting of water sj)outs, that occasionally have 
done considerable mischief in the surrounding region within the past 
year or two. The heat of this valley is fearfid during the summer. 



102 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF C.VLIFOBXIA. 

An exploring party, "n"lio visited it in January, 1865, the coolest sea- 
son of the year, found the temperature 90° Fahrenheit. When there is 
no breeze through the long canon the air becomes so dense that respi- 
ration is painful and difficult. During the spring terrible gales of 
wind blow through this caiion in opposite directions, filling the air with 
salt, gravel, and sand, in clouds as black as coal smoke. Altogether 
it is as dismal and dreary a place as can be imagined. The Telescope 
mining district is located on the west side of this valley. There is 
gold in the gi-avel thereabouts, but there is no water to work it, or to 
drink. 

The southwest corner of the county presents a much more inviting 
aspect. The finest portion of its agricultural lands is contained within 
this district. San Bernardino valley is located here. This beautiful 
valley is fifty miles in length by twenty miles in breadth, bounded 
on the east, north, and south by an amphitheatre of lofty mountains, 
covered with timber. From these mountains flow innumerable 
streams of water, which cause the whole valley to appear like a vast 
Vgardeu by the willow, sj^camore, and other trees, that grow along 
their banks. The Santa Ana, quite a large stream, passes through 
the entire length of this valley. As may be readily conceived, a region 
thus sheltered and watered must have a delightful climate.'^ Two crops 
of grain are gathered regularly in this district. The alfalfa grass, 
which is a perennial here, is cut six or eight times each year. Most 
kinds of fruit and grain flourish here. There are many extensive viae- 
yards and orchards, the products of which would be of great value 
if they could be sent to market. The surrounding mountains contain 
abundance of pine, cedar, hemlock, maple, and other kinds of timber. 
There are only two grist mills and five saw mills in the entire county, 
and these are located in this district. The present town of San Ber- 
nardino, in this valley, on the banks of the Santa Ana, was laid out 
by the Mormons in 1847, on the same plan as Great Salt Lake City. 
The streets are at right angles, and each lot contains from one to five 
acres, so that every house is surrounded with a garden, orchard, and 
cornfield. The town consequently extends over a large space. Nearly 
all the Mormons abandoned the place in 1856, and went to Salt Lake, 
but a few still reside here, who carried on quite an extensive trade with 
Utah for several years. South of this valley, to the line of San Diego 
county, there are extensive plains and rolling hills, on which are many 
farms and ranchos in a high state of cidtivation. A canal, or zanja, 
some ten miles in length, constructed by the Lugos, years before the 
State was formed, supplies a portion of this district with water for irri- 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 103 

gation. All kinds of gi-ain, and many varieties of fruit, are raised in 
perfection. 

On tlie north side of the San Bernardino mountains, and about 
thirty -five miles from the town, in a wide plateau, or broad valley, are 
Holcombe and Bear valleys, which, from 1860 until 1862, attracted con- 
siderable attention. The gold mines, both islacer and quartz, found 
here, yielded well for a time, after which operations were suspended, 
thoiigli within the past few months arrangements have been made to 
re-open these mines. Important discoveries of placer gold, or auri- 
ferous gravel, have been made on Lytle creek, about ten miles west 
from San Bernardino, towards the Los Aaigeles coimty line, near the 
Cajon pass, which is thought to be a rich gold mining district. Near 
the Morango pass, about thirty miles southeast from Holcombe valley, 
there are large deposits of copper ore. On the Santa Ana river, near 
the county seat, there are large beds of marble and alabaster. The 
county jail is built of this marble, and all the lime used in the county 
is made from it. The Temescal tin mines, discovered in 1854, (the 
only body of the ores of this metal found in situ in the State), are 
located in the Temescal mountains, about forty miles southerly from 
San Bernardino. 

There is bixt one town, and few good roads in the county. The 
whole population does not exceed five thousand eight hundred. Quite 
an addition to the former number was made during the past year by 
settlers who have purchased lands, which are very cheap in this county. 

LOS ANGELES COTINTT. 

This, the most important of the southern counties, is bounded 
on the north by Kern; by Santa Barbara, and the Pacific Ocean, on 
the west; the Pacific Ocean, on the south ; and by San Bernardino on 
the east. In outline its boundaries are exceedingly irregular. It com- 
prises about 2, 000, 000 acres, nearly two-thirds of which are fit for cul- 
tivation or for grazing purposes. It contains about 14, 000 inhabitants. 
Los Angeles is more progi-essive than either of the other southern 
counties. A number of ditches for irrigating purposes have been cut 
in various districts within the past year or two, which have caused large 
tracts of rich land to be brought under cultivation that otherwise were 
only fit for pasturage. 

The Sierra Madre mountains pass through the county in a north- 
west and southeast direction, from thirty to fifty miles from the sea, not 
only forming the divide of the waters, but separating the fertile 
plains and valleys sloping towards the ocean, from the sterile, hot and 



104 THE NATUEiU^ WEALTH OF C.UJFOEXU. 

sandy desert, -wliicli stretclies eastward towards the Colorado river. 
The Santa riusana mountains, a branch of the Coast Eange, also cross 
the county, in a nearly east and west direction. Near Fort Tejon, in 
the northwestern portion of the county, at a point where the boundaries 
of Tulare, Kern, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara counties con- 
verge, the Santa Inez and San Eafael mountains, of the Coast Eange, 
after traversing Santa Barbara county, unite with the Sierra Nevada, 
and form a great cluster of peaks and deep canons. The line of con- 
tact between the Coast Eange and Sierra Nevada is traced for many 
miles, running east or southeast, being marked by immense beds of 
dark colored, compact lava, from two hundred to five hundred feet 
deep. 

The shore line of the county extends from Point Duma to Point San 
Mateo, about ninety miles, presenting a series of low bluffs and long 
sandy beaches. The bay of San Pedro forms the only good harbor 
there is in the county. On the shores of this bay are located the old 
and new towns of San Pedro and Wilmington, both of which are ship- 
ping ports of some importance. 

The principal rivers in the county are the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, 
and Santa Ana, which flow nearly all the year and connect with the 
ocean. There are a number of others which distribute water through 
the interior during the wet season, but rarely reach to the sea, and 
are generally dry during the summer. 

The section of the county on the southwest of the Coast Eange 
forms a series of plains and valleys which extend from Los Angeles 
plain to San Diego county, a distance of nearly fifty miles in length, 
by an average of nearly twenty miles in width, and comprise the most 
beautiful portion of the southern coast. The lower plain, containing 
the valleys of Los Angeles, San Pedro, and Anaheim, skirts the ocean, 
along which its border is from five to forty feet above the level of high 
tide, fringed, in some places, by a narrow, sandy beach. From the sea 
line it slopes gradually upward to the base of the foot hills, twenty-five 
to forty miles inland. The upper plain, or plateau, contains the San 
Fernando, San Bernardino, Cocomongo, Jurapa, and a number of other 
extensive valleys. 

The soil and climate of the lower plains are remarkably uniform. 
The soil is a light bro\vn, sandy loam, rich in vegetable matter, slightly 
more clayey near the bottom of hollows, and more gi-avelly on the divid- 
ing ridges between such hoUows, but exceedingly fertile everywhere. 
The sea breeze, which springs up from the northwest between eight and 
ten o'clock A. M., during the summer, moderates the temperatui'e and 



COUNTIES OF au:.rFOENiA. 105 

supplies sufficient moisture to prevent tlie lieat being very oppressive. 
In the rainy season, whicli commences sometimes as early as Novem- 
ber, never later than January, these plains are covered with wild 
grasses, oats and clover, even to the roads, if they are not well traveled. 
At this season, a ride over them presents some of the most beautiful 
views of southern California scenery. On the one hand are the vine- 
j^ards, orange groves, and apple orchards, clothed in the variegated 
tints of autumn, and backed by brown mountain ranges, tipped on 
their crests with silvery snow, or fringed with dark pines, forming a 
serrated edge against the bright blue sky, while over the sloping plain 
all is green and brilliant as a bed of emeralds. On the other hand, the 
placid ocean, pale azure in tint, just rippled on its surface by a gentle 
breeze, dotted here and there with the white sail of some coasting 
craft, and margined by the vividly green plain, forms a series of pic- 
tures that a Bierstadt might well delight to copy. 

The equable temperature and rich soil of this section of Los An- 
geles county, render it one of the most attractive portions of South- 
ern California. Here the grape, of all varieties, from all countries, 
thrives luxuriantly. The orange, lemon, fig, and other semi-tropical 
fruits, also grow to perfection, while the facilities for irrigation enable 
the farmer to raise heavy crops of wheat, barley, corn, and all the 
vegetables. 

The City of Los Angeles (formerly Pueblo de Los Angeles — City of 
the Angels) is situated in a narrow valley, about three fourths of a mile 
wide, formed on the west by low hills which extend from the Santa 
Monica mountains, about forty miles distant, and by the rising land of 
the San Gabriel plain on the east, through which the Los Angeles river 
winds on its way to the sea, suj^plying plenty of water to innumerable 
ditches above the town, which are used for irrigating purposes. The 
city, one of the oldest in the State, is about twenty-two miles from the 
sea shore. The old Mexican portion of it extends up the valley for 
nearly a mile, forming the two principal streets. The old adobe houses, 
with flat roofs, covered with asphaltum, or brea, and surrounded by 
broad verandahs, or high walls, are gradually being supplanted by 
stores and residences more suited to American ideas of domestic and 
commercial convenience. Many neat brick dwellings and commodious 
stores are to be seen in all directions. These, mingling among the old 
Mexican casas, together with the groves of orange, lemon, olive, lime, 
fig, pomegranate, peach, apple, and pear, with here and there a tower- 
ing, feathery palm, and solid cactus fence around a field of wheat or 
barley, form a strange, but pleasing picture, such as can be seen no- 



106 THE NATURAL 'WEALTH OF C^\LIFOIlNL\. 

"wliere oiitside of California. Los Angeles city contains about six tliou- 
sand inhabitants, more than one half of whom are Americans, who ovra 
about three-fourths of all the land in the county, and are rapidly devel- 
oping its resources. It is proposed to build a railroad from the city to 
"Wilmington, and arrangements have been made to light Los Angeles 
with gas. 

In this county, the semi-tropical fruits are more extensively culti- 
vated than in any other. The following particulars relating to two of 
the largest orange groves near Los Angeles, will convey an idea of the 
proportions and nature of this branch of fmit culture. Mr. Wm. Wolf- 
skill, one of the oldest American settlers in the county, has a grove 
containing 2,000 trees, which have attained an average height of twenty 
feet. These are about sixteen years old, planted from seedlings, there 
being no grafted or inoculated trees in the orchard. Their- annual j)ro- 
duct averages 1,500 oranges to each tree. They generally ripen in 
January, and remain on the tree in a perfect condition for nearly a 
year, if not sooner picked. Mr. D. B. Wilson has a grove of 1,650 
trees, eight years old, some of which bear as many as 4,000, but the 
entire number will average 1,500 oranges each. 

The tuna, or gigantic fruit-bearing cactus, grows here to a very 
large size, frequently attaining an altitude of fifteen feet, and twenty 
feet in diameter. This fruit, about the size of a Bartlett pear, grows 
on the margin of the leaf, from thirty to forty each, and is esteemed a 
great luxury. 

There were 6,000,000 grape vines growing in the vicinity of Los 
Angeles city, in 1867. The vintage of that year, throughout the 
county, amounted to 1,500,000 gallons of wine and 100,000 gallons 
brandv, in addition to which a considerable quantity of the choicest 
grapes were shipped to San Francisco. 

Wilmington, the principal shipping-port of the county, is located 
on the southern side of the Los Angeles plain, on the northern extrem- 
ity of San Pedro bay, twenty-two miles from the city of Los Angeles. 
It w-as founded in 1858, under the name of New San Pedr-o, the present 
name having been adopted in 1863. It now contains a large number of 
stores and dwellings, and about twelve hundred inhabitants. The 
water along the shore, being too shallow to admit ordinary sailing 
vessels to enter the estuary, steamers and lighters have been con- 
structed, which caiTy from forty to two hundred tons to a very Light 
draft. These are used for loading and unloading vessels at the an- 
chorage. They come up to the wharf, and through a canal which 
passes into the central part of the town, where the military warehouses 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOKNIA. 107 

are located — tliis being tlie headquarters for the " Southern District 
of the Pacific. " About a mile north of the landing, are Drum bar- 
racks, containing accommodations for ten companies of infantry, or 
cavalry. Wilmington, in addition to being the principal port for Los 
Angeles county, is also the shipping port for San Bernardino county, 
for the Clear Creek mining district, and a considerable part of the ter- 
ritory of Arizona. 

A large portion of the Los Angeles plain north of Wilmington 
promises hereafter to be greatly benefited, for horticultural and vinicul- 
tural purposes, by means of a ditch and flume, upwards of twelve miles 
in length, bringing the water of the San Gabriel river to where it is 
required. 

Anaheim is the name of a village settled by a company of German 
v/ine-growers, on a dead-level plain, about twenty-four miles east of 
Wilmington. The location is twelve miles from the Santiago moun- 
tains, eight miles from the sea, and three miles from the Santa Ana 
river. 

The growth of this village, now one of the most important wine- 
districts in the county, is so illustrative of what may be accomplished 
by the well directed labors of poor men, that we give the particulars 
somewhat in detail, for general information. 

In 1857, the site where the village stands was a barren, dry, sandy 
plain, similar to that extending around it, for miles, at the present 
time. In the summer of that year, a company of Germans, acquainted 
with the culture of the grape in the "faderland," purchased 1,265 acres 
of the plain, at $2 per acre, to test its adaptation to the raising of the 
vine. This land was divided into fifty rectangular lots, of twenty 
acres each, with streets between them. A town site was laid out in 
the center, with sixty building lots — one for each shareholder, and ten 
for public purposes. The lots were all fenced with willows, sycamores 
and poplars, and about ten acres of each planted with vines. A ditch, 
seven miles in length was cut to bring water from the Santa Ana 
river. The land was cultivated for two years, at the expense of the 
company, by hired labor. At the end of that time the lots were dis- 
tributed to the shareholders. Those who were so fortunate as to obtain 
the best, were required to pay a certain sum to those whose lots were 
inferior in location, or any other quality. After all the expenses were 
■ paid, each share of twenty acres fenced, partly planted in vines two 
years old, with a town lot, 100 by 200 feet, cost $1,400. Each of these 
shares is worth a small fortune to the owner, at the present time, and 
will be worth a great deal more a few years hence. There are nearly 



108 THE NATURAL WEiVLTH OP CAIIFOENU. 

1,000,000 vines growing in this village, about 750,000 of which bear 
fruit. There arc also 10,000 fruit-trees of various kinds, the whole 
place resembling a forest and flower-garden, divided into squares with 
fences of willow, pojilar, and sycamore, w'hich shelter the fruit from 
evevj wind. Nearly every lot contains a comfortable homestead, and 
the inhabitants of the village number about four hundred. There is a 
good public school, several stores, and a post-office in the town, but 
neither a lawyer, doctor, nor minister. There are himdreds of places 
in the southern counties where such villages might be founded, with 
equal or even greater advantages. 

The to\vn of San Juan Cajiistrano, from the old mission of that 
name located here, is in striking contrast to the flourishing village of 
ibiaheim, from which it is distant about thirty miles on the main road, 
between Los Angeles and San Diego. The valley in which this town 
is situated, is about nine miles in length by something less than a mile 
wide. The San Juan, a never-failing stream, passing through its 
entire length, furnishes an abundant suxaply of Avater. The rich 
grasses, fine timber, and dense underbrush, that cover the whole face 
of the valley, afford evidence of the richness of the soil, but it is almost 
wholly uncultivated. The population of the town numbers about six 
hundred, of whom four hundred ai e Mexicans and native Califomians, 
and about two hundred Indians. There are not more than half a dozen 
Americans or Europeans in the place ; these are generally thrifty and 
jirosperous. This is the most thoroughly Mexican town in the State, 
the houses being built of adobe, with low flat roofs, while the streets 
are laid out without much regard to regularity. The only apparent 
employment of the men is horse-racing, or practising with the reata. 
The women are rarely seen, except at the fandango or church. The 
children literally swarm in the streets, and are of aU hues, except that 
of the lily; they wear little or no clothing. 

The San Gabriel township, which embraces upwards of 75,000 
acres of the table-lands between Los Angeles and San Bernardino, is 
extremely well adapted to the gro-\vth of the vine and semi-troijieal 
fruits. There are upwards of 800,000 vines imder cultivation in this 
township, besides thousands of orange, lemon, olive, walnut, almond, 
and other fruit-trees, It is estimated that there were, at the close of 
1867, twenty-five thousand acres of unoccupied land in this townshii^, 
suitable for cultivation, and conveniently located for irrigation. 

There is another belt of country east of the above, about ten miles 
Avide by aboiit forty miles in length, extending into San Bernardino 
county, which is remarkably well adapted for the cultivation of the 



COUNTIES OP CiiLITOKNIA. 109 

vine and semi-tropical fruits. It is -warm, and sheltered from the cool 
sea-breeze j the soil is rich and deep, and could be conveniently irri- 
gated. In this district, about twenty-four miles east from tha city of 
Loa Angeles, connected by good roads, is the valley of San Jose — a 
,very fine agricultural district in the foot-hills, which extends to the 
plains in El Chino, and into the adjoining county about twenty miles. 
The Puente district forms a portion of this valley, the soil of which is 
a red loam on the hill sides, but a nearly black, sandy clay on the bot- 
tom. It is watered by the San Gabriel and San Jose rivers, and by 
numerous tributaries that have their source among the snow-covered 
peaks of the Sierra Nevada. This valley produces vei-y fine wheat and 
barley, as well as grapes, apples, and peaches. 

A great many mulberry trees have been planted in this county during 
the past year, for the purpose of raising silk worms, which thrive in a 
climate in which the orange, lemon, and fig grow to perfection. Dr. 
De "Witt Franklin raised both the Japanese and Chinese silk worm 
during 1867, and there is little room to doubt the success of the silk 
culture here. 

Northerly from the city of Los Angeles about seventy miles, on the 
eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, bordering on Kern county, there 
are a number of valleys and many broad, fertile canons, equal in 
beauty to any portion of the State. The valley in which Fort Tejon 
is located is one of such. Sheltered from the hot winds of the desert 
by mountains four thousand to five thousand feet high, nothing can 
exceed it in picturesque and rural beauty. Huge old oaks cast their 
shadows upon the greensward, and miles of the rich foliage of the 
wild vine drape the banks of the stream of clear water that courses 
through the Caiiada de las Uvas. 

The first gold known to have been found in the State, was obtained, 
in 1833, in the valley of Santa Clara, on the western border of this 
county. Other gold mines of some importance have been discovered 
at various points in the Sierra Madre mountains, particularly on the 
eastern border of the county. Silver mines are in course of develop- 
ment in the Santa Susana mountains, about twenty miles north from 
San Fernando, and in the Soledad pass. Copper mines have been par- 
tially explored in the Soledad mountains and pass, about fifty miles 
north of Los Angeles. Near Anaheim, marble and coal are known to 
exist. 

About seven miles west of Los Angeles there are immense deposits 
of petroleum and asphaltum. Over a space of twenty acres, in this 
locality, petroleum, of the consistency and color of coal tar, issues 



110 THE NATURAl WEALTH OP CALIFOKNIA. 

through a number of holes from three to eight inches in diameter, and 
forms pools of tar in which the gas generated at the same time creates 
great bladders, that burst with a loud noise. It soon hardens, on 
exposure, when it forms asphaltum, or hrea, as it is called here, or 
maltha, as it is termed by men of science. There are a gi'eat many- 
other places in this county where these materials are found in abim- 
dance. In the Caiiada de la Brea, about twenty miles east from Lo^ 
Angeles, the petroleum oozes from the hill side, and has formed im- 
mense deposits of asphaltum in the canon. At several places aroimd 
the estero of San Pedro, the same material flows through the banks 
near the sea beach. Considerable oil has been made from petroleum 
obtained in the San Fernando district. Asphaltum is shipped in large 
quantities to San Francisco from deposits near the coast, and experi- 
ments are being made to test its adaptabilit)' for fuel. 

There are good roads in nearly all parts of Los Angeles, which con- 
nect it -ivith the adjoining counties. With raih-oad facilities, and a 
larger popidation, its resources will be immensely increased. 

SANTA BAEBAEA COTJNTY. 

Santa Barbara county embraces the angle of the coast at Point Con- 
cepcion, whence it trends nearly north forty miles, and easterly one 
hundred and twenty miles. It is the only county in the State having 
so large a coast line facing towards the south. This peculiarity in its 
topography exerts a great influence over the climate and productions 
of this coiinty, and those south and east of it. North of Point Cou- 
cepcion the coast, during the summer is swept by cold fog bearing 
winds from the northwest, and by violent rain storms from the south 
during the winter. South of that point there is scarcely any fog, and 
it is both drier and warmer than to the north. Snow rarely falls on 
the highest mountains — frost is almost unknown — and it seldom rains 
from May to November. 

The whole county, which is about one hundred and twenty miles in 
length, and about forty miles in average breadth, lies on the west of the 
main divide of the coast range. It contains about 1,500,000 acres, 
nearly one half of which are mountainous, and unfit for cultivation, 
but well adapted for cattle and sheep raising. 

The Santa Inez branch of the coast moimtains is entirely in this 
county, traversing it from east to west^ terminating at Point Concep- 
cion. The Santa Susana, and Santa Monica moimtains divide it from 
Los Angeles county on the southeast. Between these ranges, and at 
their base along the coast, there are a number of exceedingly beauti- 



COUNTIES 0? C.iLIFOEKLV. Ill 

ful and fertile Talleys, most of tliem being under cultivation ■\\'^laere 
water can be obtained for irrigation, but no ditches or reservoirs liave 
been made to obtain an additional supply of this element, although suf- 
ficient to irrigate the entire county runs to waste. 

The Santa Inez river traverses the county from east to west upwards 
of one hundred miles, emptying into the Pacific Ocean at Jesus Maria, 
in this county. It has more the character of a creek than a river, for 
atjout ten miles from the sea. The San Buenaventura rises near the 
junction of the San Eafael and Santa Inez mountains, in the central 
part of the county, and flows nearly due south into the Santa Barbara 
channel, at the old Mission of San Buenaventura. The Santa Clara 
has its source in Los Angeles, but flows nearly west, across Santa Bar- 
bara county, entering the sea three miles southeast of San Buenaven- 
tura. The Cuyama, or Santa Maria, is quite a stream, having its source 
near the Caiiada de las Uvas in the Sierra Nevada. It forms the north- 
em boundary line of the county for more than one hundred miles, 
extending a few miles north of Point Sal to near Fort Tejon. There are 
a great many tributaries to each of these streams, which contain water 
during the year. The main river sinks into the sand in several places 
near its mouth. Extending east from Point Concepcion a hundred 
miles along the sea shore, on the south side of the Santa Inez moun- 
tains, there is a belt of land about three miles wide, the climate of 
which is almost tropical and unsurpassed by that of any other portion 
of the State. 

There is but little timber ill any part of the county, except oak, 
willow, and sycamore, which grow on the plains or in the valleys. 
The highest mountains being covered with grass or wild oats during 
the winter and spring, furnish nutritious pasturage for sheep and 
cattle during the entire year. In the western portion of the county, 
the mountains are much lower than they are on the east, where the 
Sierra Nevada and Coast Eange unite. The culminating peak at the 
junction, Mount Pinos, is nearly seven thousand five hundred feet high. 
In this vicinity there are forests of pine and redwood. 

The Santa Inez valley, in which the old mission of that name is 
located, is very beautiful and fertile. The old mission buildings remain 
in good preservation, the bells still hanging in the belfry, calling the 
worshippers to service.. This valley, like all the others on this part of 
the coast, has a series of terraces formed by successive elevations of 
the land within the present geological era. The lowest of these three 
terraces, in the Santa Inez valley, is about twenty-five feet above the 
level of the river; the second is forty-five feet, and the third is ninety-five 



112 THE NATUE;VL T\'E.VLTH OF CALITOKXIA. 

feet above tlie present level of the river, which evidently cut them all. 
To the west of the town of Santa Barbara, on the south side of the 
Santa Inez mountains, the coast line foi^ms a terrace extending from 
Santa Barbara to the base of the Gaviota pass, eighty feet above the 
ocean. 

The town of Santa Barbara is situated on the shore of the bay, on 
a headland to the west of which there is a good lighthouse. It is 
nearly in the center of the county, on the southern coast line. The 
houses, which are nearly all built of adobe, and roofed with red tiles, 
in the old Mexican style, extend continuously from the shore, for 
about a mile inland. It contains about 1, 600 inhabitants, nearly 1, 200 
of whom are Mexicans and native Califorrdans, the others being chiefly 
Americans and Europeans. There is one hotel and numerous stores. 
A good wharf has been built, but it is not far enough out fi-om the 
shore for vessels to load or unload without boats. About a mile and 
a half from the shore, further up the valley, on an eminence which 
commands a fine view of the surrounding country and of a wide ex- 
panse of ocean, stands the old mission, from which the town and 
county derive their name. It is in a good state of preservation, ser- 
vice being still performed in it by the Catholic pastor. There is con- 
siderable land under cultivation in this fine valley, but little in other 
parts of the county. The orange, lemon, grape, olive, fig, and the 
cereals, are produced here. 

At the hacienda of Semar del Cannello, near Montecita, about 
three miles east of Santa Barbara, on the sea-coast, is the largest 
grape-vine in the State — probably the largest on the American conti- 
nent. This vine is of the old mission, or Los Angeles variety. It was 
planted about forty-three years ago, by Maria Marcilina Felix, a Mexi- 
can woman, who died there in 1865, at the age of 107. The vine meas- 
ures nearly twelve inches in diameter at four feet fi'om the gi-ouud; at 
two feet higher, the stem is divided, and its branches are supported 
by a rude trellis-work, forming a splendid bower, which covers an area 
of 10, 000 square feet. It annually produces about 12, 000 pounds of 
grapes. The bunches are generally from fifteen to eighteen inches 
long, and weigh from six to seven pounds each. There is a smaller 
vine near by, being about ten years old, that produces annually 
from 900 to 1,200 bunches. No fertilizer is used about these vines, 
excepting that the cuttings are burned, and their ashes placed in the 
soil over the roots. Irrigation is employed very sparingly, and only at 
the time when the ashes are used. No better proof of the adaptability 



COUNTIES OP CALIFOBNIA. 113 

of the soil and climate of this part of the coast for the culture of the 
grape can be required. 

East of Santa Barbara, there is a level plain, averaging two miles 
wide, and about fifteen miles in length, which is nearly all in a good 
state of cultivation. Some of the finest barley raised in the State is 
produced on this plain, and most kinds of fruit are also cultivated. 
Monticito and Carpenteria are both located on this plain. Siticoy and 
Santa Clara valleys have a frontage on the coast of sixteen miles, and 
extend inland about forty miles, gradually narrowing, and are culti- 
vated to some extent. These valleys and plains produce immense 
quantities of wild mustard, which grows to the size of small trees in 
some localities. Wild bees are also very numerous, yielding a great 
deal of honey and wax. These articles are among the staple exports of 
the county. A large number of mulberry trees have been planted 
within the past few years, for propagating the silk-worm, which is 
found to thrive well in this county. Its present agricultural products 
are of comparatively little importance, not more than 15, 000 acres of 
land being under cultivation. The entire county contains but one 
grist-mill, and that with only one set of stones, about two hundred 
tons of flour being annually imported from San Francisco. The chief 
products are cattle and sheep. It is one of the most important grazing 
counties in the State. As recently as 1864, thousands of cattle were 
slaughtered for their hides and tallow, but they have increased in 
value two hundred per cent, since then, owing to the increasing culti- 
vation of land in other counties. Large numbers of horses raised here 
are sent to Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, 
and Texas. Messrs. A. and T. B. Dibblee, and Col. W. W. HoUister, 
of San Erancisco, graze 31, 500 sheep upon 120, 000 acres of land, near 
Point Concepcion. These sheep are chiefly Spanish merinos and their 
grades, bred with imported bucks. The wool clip from this flock, for 
1867, amounted to 106,000 pounds. HoUister & Cooper, on ranchos 
adjoining the above have 20,000 sheep of the same character of breed. 
There are numerous smaller flocks in other portions of the county, and 
on the islands off the coast, amounting in the aggregate to 185, 000. 
The want of population is the only impediment to the development of 
its resources; but it is probable that this defect will be remedied to 
some extent during 1868, as roads have been laid out to connect with 
Kern and Inyo counties. 

The peculiarly mountainous character of the county renders it 
somewhat difficult and expensive to make good roads of any length* 
That which crosses the Santa Inez mountains, to Santa Barbara, is very 



114 THE NATTR.U. "WE-ULTH OF C/VLBFOENT-C 

romantic and sinuous. It ■u-inds xap steep mountains by zig-zags, and 
crosses sandy creeks and marshy valleys, until it reaches the Gaviota 
pass — a natural chasm, about sixty feet wide, through a lofty chain 
of mountains, reaching within a mile of the sea. The sides of this 
pass are nearly perpendicular walls of solid rock, upwards of three 
hundred feet high. From this pass, the road winds at the base of 
these mountains, for nearly twenty miles along the sea beach. This is 
a delightful trip during the siunmer — the white-crested billows of the 
Pacific ciu-ling and seething about the horse's feet; and the cool sea- 
breeze, how refreshing — after leaving the hot and dusty roads over the 
mountains. But it is not quite so agreeable at night, during the 
winter, when the wind has lashed the waves into fury; it is then not a 
little dangerous to fail to make the trip between the tides. 

Three miles southeast of Carpenteria, near Mount Hoar, the sea- 
shore is covered with a thick deposit of asphaltum, which oozes from 
the slaty bank in the form of thick tar, covering the beach and con- 
creting the sand and pebbles as hard as rock, running under the sea, in 
places where the surface has become hardened and smooth. There are 
similar deposits of this mineral along the sea-shore in this and Los 
Angeles county, from which about two thousand tons of asphaltum are 
annually collected and shipped to San Francisco. 

Opposite La Golita and Positas ranches, in the roadstead of Santa 
Barbara, and extending coastwise as far as the "Kincon," the sea is 
covered Avith an iridescent film of oil, which finds its way to the 
surface at numerous points, over an extent of at least twenty miles, 
escaping, probably, from the outcropping edges of the strata. 

There are numerous oil-springs, and petroleum deposits, in all of 
the southern counties. 

Sulphur and salt ai'e also obtained along the coast in Santa Bar- 
bara county; and some gold and copper have been found in the vaUey 
of the Santa Liez. 

There are only three towns in the county: Santa Barbara, the 
county seat ; San Buenaventura, thirty miles east ; and Santa Inez, 
forty miles north-west. The population of the county is about 6, 000, 
of whom 1, 700 are children imder fifteen years of age. Considerably 
more than one half of the adult population are Mexicans and native 
Califomians. 

SAIJ LUIS OBISPO COUNTY. 

San Luis Obispo county is bounded on the north by Monterey, on 
the east by Kern, on the south by Santa Barbara county, and on the 
west by the Pacific ocean. It contains about 1,500,000 acres, nearly 



COUNTIES OF C^ILITOENIA. 115 

1,000,000 acres of -whicli are moimtaino-us, less than 200,000 being fit 
for agricnltural purposes, but nearly the entire county is adapted for 
grazing, to which most of it is applied. Only 12, 000 acres of land were 
under cultivation in 1867. The population of the county does not 
exceed 3, 500, of whom nearly 1, 200 are children under fifteen years of 
age. Three-fourths of the entire number are Mexicans and native 
Californians. The greater portion of the land being held by virtue of 
Mexican grants, in large ranchos, which are mainly devoted to cattle 
and sheep raising, prevents the development of the resources of the 
county. There are only three small towns in it, with but indifferent 
roads to connect them. One good stage road, from Monterey, passes 
through the coimty to Santa Barbara. San Luis Obispo, the county 
seat, has a population of about one thousand ; San Miguel, distant 
forty-one miles, has one hundred and fifty inhabitants ; San Simeon, 
thirty-seven miles northwest, has two hundred inhabitants; all the rest 
of the population are scattered throughout the mountains and valleys. 

The valley of San Luis Obispo, on which the mission that gives 
name to the town and county is situated, extends in a nearly northwest 
and southeast direction from Estero bay to the Arroyo Grande, in the 
Santa Lucia mountains, a distance of nearly twenty miles, and is from 
three to five miles wide. The Caiiadas de los Osas and de las Piedras 
branch from this valley — the greater portion of which is good agricul- 
tural land. 

A range of moimtains, which are nearly two thousand three hun- 
dred feet high on the north, but decrease to about one thousand feet 
where they unite with the Santa Lucia range, a little south of the 
Arroyo Grande, extends from the coast line and forms a wide, funnel- 
shaped reservoir for the sea breeze, which, passing through to the 
low hills further inland, materially influences the climate and vegeta- 
tion of this county. The San Luis Obispo creek, which flows through 
a greater portion of the valley, empties into the bay below the port of 
San Luis Obispo. The town is situated nine miles inland in a small 
valley, surrounded by low hills, between the Coast Eange and the sea. 

The Santa Margarita valley is a broad plateau on the northeastern 
side of the Santa Lucia mountains, about twenty miles northeast of 
San Luis Obispo. This extensive plateau is nearly twelve Imndred feet 
above the sea, and much more thickly timbered than the lower valleys. 
Oak, pine, manzanita, and other trees peculiar to the California 
Alpine regions, grow here to perfection, showing that there is more 
moisture in the air than in the lower districts. A branch of the Salinas 
river passes through this valley. 



116 THE NATURAL TVE.\LTH OF CxMEFORNTA. 

The Salinas vaUey is another extensive agricultural district. The 
main branch of the Salinas river, which has its source among the 
southeastern peaks of the Santa Lucia, flows through this valley for a 
tlistance of twenty-five to thirty miles, when it enters Monterey county. 
There is some good land along this great valley and in others which 
branch from it to the east and west. 

On the south side of the Santa Lucia range of mountains, the tem- 
perature is more than ten degrees warmer than it is on the north. 
The effect of this difference is seen in the vegetation ; the grasses are 
green and fresh on the south side for more than a month after those on 
the north side are dried and withered. This is due to the form of the 
San Luis Obispo valley, already mentioned. 

The Paso Eobles, is the name of a very large rancho on the "eastern 
slope of the Santa Lucia mountains, about twenty miles north of San 
Luis Obispo. This rancho embraces a fine level plain containing 
aearly ten square miles, thickly studded with magnificent live oaks. 
Being quite free from underbrush, during the spring, when the grass 
is gi-een, it has the appearance of a splendid park. Near the ranch 
house, or hotel, are the Paso Eobles springs. Those nearest the house 
are almost scalding hot ; about a mile to the north is one of icy 
coldness, but, like the hot ones, highly charged with sulphur. A short 
distance from these is a mud spring which has an aperture nearly two 
feet in diameter through which flows a stream of hot, thick, liquid, 
black, slimy mud, which is said to be effective in the cure of rheuma- 
tism. Hot mineral springs exist at several other localities in this 
county. There are a number of other valleys connected with the great 
valley of the Cuyama, extending along the southern border of the 
county. 

With a larger population, and greater facilities for sending the pro- 
ducts of the land to a market, the importance of this county might be 
materially increased. Its present exports consist of hides and wool. 
Cattle, horses, hogs and sheep are its staple products, but grain, 
fruits, and vegetables, are raised in sufiicient quantities for home con- 
siunption — transportation being too expensive to send any of them to 
market. 

In 1863, considerable excitement was created by the discoveiy of a 
deposit of cinnabar in the dividing ridge of the Santa Lucia mountains, 
about fifteen miles from San Simeon bay. Deposits of copper ore 
have been found in the Coast Range in several localities, and gold and 
silver have also been discovered in the mountains in the eastern portion 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 117 

of the county. None' of the mineral resources of the county have 
been developed. 

KEEN COUNTY. 

This county was organized in 1866. It comprises portions of the 
Sierra Nevada, the Coast Bange, the central valley between them, and 
of the desert-valley lying east of the Sierras, and contains nearly two 
thirds of the teii'itory previously included in Tulare county. But for 
its somewhat inaccessible position — walled in by lofty mountains at all 
points, except the north — Kern would soon become one of the most im- 
portant of the interior counties. It contains valuable gold mines, both 
quartz and placer, large deposits of salt, sulphur, petroleum and other 
minerals; fine timber, good agricultural lands, which are well watered 
by numerous streams that flow from the mountains, and a large extent 
of gi-azing country. It is bounded on the north by Tulare; east, by 
San Bernardino ; south, by Los Angeles ; and west, by San Luis 
Obispo. It comprises about 1, 500, 000 acres, nearly one half of which 
is adapted for agricultural and grazing purposes, although only fifteen 
thousand acres were under cultivation in the summer of 1867. Want of 
roads, distance from market, a sparse population — there being less 
than 3, 500 in the entire county — causes farming to be less attended to 
than mining and sheep raising. 

From Fort Tejon, on the southern extremity of the county, to the 
Kern river, a distance of about forty miles along the western border 
the county, for about ten miles from the Coast Eange, is covered with 
salt marshes, brine, and petroleum springs, which, in a locality more 
favored with roads, woidd be valuable. 

About ten miles from the mouth of the Canada de las Uvas, which 
heads near the fort, there are numerous salt springs, where considerable 
quantities of that mineral are manufactured. The petroleum and 
asphaltum deposits extend from the San Emidio canon, on the eastern 
corner of Santa Barbara county, nearly forty miles to the north, to 
Buena Vista lake, (so named by the Spaniards in 1806,) a sheet of 
alkaline water about seven miles long and two miles wide. The most 
extensive of these deposits, is about eighteen miles south-east of the 
lake. At this point, there is one spring of maltha, or tarry petroleum, 
nearly an acre in extent, in the center of which the viscid material is 
constantly agitated by the escape of gas from below. Around the 
edge of this j)ool, the maltha has hardened into stony asphaltum, in 
which are the remains of various kinds of beasts, birds, and reptiles, 
whose feet had touched the sticky mass, from which they could not ex- 



118 THE NATUE.UL WEALTH OF CALIFOEXIA. 

tiicate tliemselves. "Works -were erected at this place, in 1864, to dis- 
til oil for the San Francisco market. The company made several 
thousand gallons of good oil, but it cost more to send it to market than 
oil could be procured for from the Eastern States. This long belt of oil- 
springs lies parallel to those on the coast line in Santa Barbara county, 
from which they are separated by the coast ranges. 

Ai'ound the great plain which forms the center of this county, on all 
sides except the north, are ranges of exceedingly lofty mountains, from 
eight thousand to ten thousand feet high — the buttresses of the Sierra 
Nevada, and spurs of the Coast Eange, projecting in some places nearly 
across the plain. There is only one pass over these mountains to the 
west — the Paso E,obles, four thousand eight hundred feet high. On the 
south is the Tejon pass, five thousand two himdi-ed and eighty-five feet 
above the sea level. The higher peaks of these mountains are covered 
vnth snow during the winter and spring. The subordinate ranges are 
well timbered with oak, pine and iii-. 

The San Emidio canon, about twenty miles west of the Canada de 
las Uvas, which heads between Mount Pinos and Mount El Dorado, two 
of the highest peaks in the southern division of the Coast Range, 
nearly 8, 000 feet high, enters this plain on the south-west. Its waters 
pass through a gorge nearly 2, 000 feet deep, cut in beds of sand and 
gravel, which form terraces several miles broad on the tojJ, showing 
how much the land of this portion of the coast has been elevated 
within the j)resent geological era. 

Nearly all of the western portion of the county is valueless, for agri- 
cultural purposes. On the south and east, the low hills, and many 
of the mountains, are covered with a luxuriant crop of grasses and 
shmbbery. 

Bounding the salt plain on the east, is a spur of the Sierra Nevada 
called the Te-hatch-ay-pah mountains, which is nearly 8,000 feet high. 
The pass over these mountains is upwards of 4, 000 feet above the sea 
level. To the east of this spur, is a fine, fertile, well-timbered valley, 
of the same name, about eight miles in length by three miles in width, 
completely surrounded by mountains from 7,000 to 8,000 feet high. 
It contains a small lake of extremely salt water from which quantities 
of fine salt are manufactured by solar evaporation — one hundred tons 
having been thus obtained in 1867. The stage road between Los An- 
geles and Owens' valley, Inyo county, passes through this beautiful 
place. To the north of this mountain spur, is Joe Walker's valley, 
named in honor of the first settler in the county, who arrived in 1835. 

This valley, like that just described, is surrounded by lofty moun- 



COUNTIES OF CjVIIFOENIA. 119 

tains. It contains about ten square miles of excellent land, wliicli 
yields from forty to sixty bushels of wheat, or from fifty to sixty bushels 
of corn, or sixty bushels of barley to the acre. All kinds of vegetables 
and hardy fraits grow luxuriantly. The hills are well timbered, and 
there is an abundant supply of pure water. There are quite a number 
of such valleys in various parts of the county. 

The valley of the south fork of the Kern river, about eight miles 
north of Havilah, the county seat, is one of the finest in the county, 
containing about forty square miles of exceedingly rich soil, well 
watered and timbered. Linn's valley, a few miles to the south, is 
another beautiful place for a thrifty community. About forty families 
have settled in this valley within the past three years, who cultivate 
about two thousand acres. The climate of this valley is very agree- 
able — ^scarcely ever exceeding 90° during the summer or 50° during the 
winter. A grist and saw mill were erected here during 1867. 

The hills and rivers along the entire eastern and northern portion 
of the county are rich in auriferous quartz and placer gold, which give 
employment to nearly all the population. 

Kern river, from which the county derives its name is a consid- 
erable stream that passes nearly across it from east to west, entering 
it near Walker's pass on the east, and emptying into Goose lake at 
the base of the Coast Range on the west, receiving numerous tribu- 
taries, and watering an extensive agricultural district in its progress. 
This fine river was called the Rio Bravo by the Mexicans. Much of 
the land in this section of the county is well adapted for the cultivation 
of cotton, and numerous experiments have demonstrated this. Several 
fields containing from twenty to thirty acres each were planted here in 
1865, producing good crops, which were sold for full prices, for use at 
the Oakland Cotton Mills, but the cost of labor and transportation 
rendered it less profitable than other crops. 

Havilah, named from a place mentioned in Genesis, where the first 
allusion is made to a land of gold, is the chief town in the county, and 
contains about eight hundred inhabitants, nearly all of whom are Amer- 
icans — there being very few Mexicans and Europeans. 

There are numerous mining districts in the mountains and along 
the creeks, near which villages have been established, and there 
are good roads from place to place. Considerable quantities of both 
placer and quartz gold are obtained, this being the most important 
mining county in the southern portion of the State. It contains seven- 
teen quartz mills, and about twelve hundred of the inhabitants are 
encaged in mining. 



120 THE NATTIRAL "WEALTH OF CALIEOENIA. 

Kemville is one of the most thriving towns in the coimty. There 
are upwards of a dozen important quartz ledges within a mile or tAvo 
of the place, on several of which extensive mills have been in opera- 
tion for two or three years — the quartz paying steadily and well. 

The valleys and flats are cultivated to an extent sufficient to supply 
the local demand, but there is only one grist mill in the county. A 
large number of cattle and sheep are raised, and considerable lum- 
ber is cut. There are five saw mills in the county, capable of cutting 
30,000 feet per day. 

The resources of this county v>dll not be developed until a raih-oad 
shall connect the southern counties with San Francisco, the great cen- 
tral market for the coast. 



COAST comrarES. 

MONTEKEY COUNTT. 

Monterey county is the southernmost of the coast counties, accord- 
ing to the division of the State adopted in describing its topography. 
It is bounded on the south by the Pacific ocean, and San Luis Obispo 
county, on the east by Fresno and Merced counties, on the north by 
Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, on the west by the Pacific ocean. 
It averages nearly eighty miles in length, by about fifty miles in width, 
and contains about 2,500,000 acres. Seven hundred thousand acres 
are good agricultural land — ^less than fifty thousand of which were under 
cultivation in the summer of 1867. The greater portion of the county 
is devoted to cattle and sheep raising, much of the best land being still 
occupied by the original Mexican grantees or their assigns. 

The population, at the close of 1867, is estimated at eight thousand 
five hundred, of whom nearly two thousand five hundred are children 
under fifteen years of age. There are a large number of Mexicans and 
native Californians in the county, but many large ranchos have been 
purchased by Americans* during the past few years and subdivided into 
farms. This has caused many of the natives and Mexicans to lose their 
occupation as herders and shepherds. 

The prominent features in the topography of this county, are the 
tliree branches of the coast mountains, which extend through it in a 
northwesterly direction, nearly parallel with each other and with the 
coast, dividing it into three belts of valleys and two of mountains. 
The Santa Lucia range extends along the coast line in an almost un- 
broken chain of lofty hills, from Mount San Francisquito, on the south 



COUNTIES OP CALIFOENU. 121 

of the bay of Monterey, to Estero bay, in San Luis Obispo county, a 
distance of nearly one hundred and fifty miles. On the east of this 
range lies the great Salinas valley, and its branches. The Gavilan 
mountains separate this valley from the valley of San Benito and its 
branches, which are bounded by the main range of the coast moun- 
tains, of which Pacheco peak, in the northern corner of the county, is 
two thousand eight hundred and forty-five feet high — the general 
average of the altitude of the three ranges being from one thousand 
five hundred to two thousand feet. As will readily be conceived, such 
a configuration of the land in a section of the coast where the heavy 
dews and fogs from the ocean prevail during the summer, has a very 
beneficial influence upon vegetation. Nearly the whole of the eastern 
slopes is well timbered. The only pinery on the southern coast is in 
this county. The greater portion of the best agricultural land lies in 
the long valleys and table lands between these mountains. Most of the 
soil in the uplands is sandy or gravelly, but produces large crops of 
the cereals or fruits, when irrigated. The mountains, in a wide dis- 
trict on the northwestern side of the county, are of granite formation, 
which is very unusual in the coast range. This has a material influence 
on the soil of that section. 

The Salinas river, after flowing through San Luis Obispo county, 
enters Monterey a few miles south of the old mission of San Miguel, 
nearly in the center of the southern border of the county, meanders 
through the Salinas valley for about ninety miles, and empties into the 
bay of Monterey, forming a navigable river for a short distance. 

The San Benito river rises among the mountains near the Panoche 
Gbrande, one of the culminating peaks of the Coast Ptange, nearly in 
the center of the eastern border of the county, and flows for about 
sixty miles to the northwest, where it unites with the Pajaro, at the 
southern extremity of Santa Clara county. 

The Pajaro river separates this county from Santa Cruz, and Santa 
Clara counties, and flows about forty miles in. a westerly direction, 
until it enters Monterey bay. 

The Carmel is an inconsiderable stream, which drains the hilly 
country north and east of the northern termination of the Santa Lucia 
mountains, and empties into Carmel bay. These are all the rivers of 
any importance in the county. 

Among the most important of its valleys, are the Pajaro, which ex- 
tends from the shore of the bay of Monterey to the foot of the Gavilan 
mountains, about ten miles, ranging from six to eight miles in width, 
and divided nearly in the center by the Pajaro river. This vaUey con- 



122 THE NATURAL ^iVEALTH OF CALIFOE^■IA. 

tains about ninety-six square miles, only one lialf of ■«-liieli is in this 
county. This land is exceedingly fertile, and almost level. On either 
side of it, for several miles, there is a range of low, smoothly rounded 
hills, well watered by numerous creeks, and but little less fertile than 
the bottom-land, which produces fine crops of wild oats, bunch grass, 
and a variety of clover and native grasses, where not under cultivation. 
The gi'ape, peach, apple, wheat, corn, barley, and all the hardy fruits, 
grain and vegetables, thrive remarkably well in this soil. The black 
soil of the Pajaro has become famous for the wheat and potatoes it pro- 
duces. The fogs and dews from the ocean are almost equal to rain, on 
the crops in this valley. Nearly the whole of this section has been 
settled by American and European farmers, and is in a high state of 
cultivation. Well tilled farms occupy the site of many an old -cattle- 
rancho, and, in place of the solitary old adobe easa, the valley is 
now dotted with cheerful rural villages, school-houses and churches. 
Surrounded by the three great branches of the Coast Eange; the foot- 
hills, covered with fleecy flocks and herds of cattle ; the lower ranges, 
thickly timbered with live oak, redwood, pine, and the beautiful ma- 
droiia; the cubninating peaks, brown, bleak and bare — the whole forms 
a delightful scene of agricultural thrift and prosperity. This beaiitiful 
valley was wholly uncultivated prior to 1850. 

The Salinas plains extend south-east from the boundaries of the 
Pajaro valley. They cover an area of nearly 1, 500 square miles, and 
contain many thousand acres of excellent grazing land. At present, 
most of it is covered by Spanish or Mexican grants, in large bodies, 
and is used for sheep and cattle ranges. 

This county, in 1860, contaLned more sheep than any other county 
in the United States — and 100,000 cattle. They are not as numer- 
ous at present, but the breeds have been greatly improved, and the 
value more than doubled. The wool-clip for 1867, exceeded 350, 000 
pounds. There are few counties as well adapted for sheep-raising 
as Monterey county. The yearly increase of the flocks is fi-om ninety 
to one hiindi-ed and ten per cent. No disease is known. The hills in 
the Coast Eange afford jDasturage, in seasons when the plains and val- 
leys suffer from drought. At the close of 1867 there were 300,000 
sheep in Monterey county, the most of which were of imported, or of 
improved breeds. 

The valley of San Juan lies to the east of the San Benito, a s^Jiir of 
the Gavilan mountains, twelve miles east of Watsonville. It contains 
about twenty-five sqiiare miles of good bottom land, with a large tract 
of grassy hills adjoining. On the southeast side, on an elevation of 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 123 

about fifty feet, overlooking the whole valley, stands the old mission of 
San Juan Bautista. 

Carmel valley, on the extreme northwest, about three miles from 
the to-mi of Monterey, and the San Antonio valley on the south, both 
sites of old missions, are famous for fruits. Figs, grapes, peaches, 
olives, etc., are ciiltivated, as well as the cereals. 

The town of Monterey, the county seat, derives its name from 
Gaspar de Zunniga, Count de Monte Eey, given by Viscayno, the dis- 
coverer of the bay, in 1603. It is situated in a little nook of the moun- 
tains, on the southern shore of the bay, near its western extremity. 
- Like all other Mexican towns, the streets are irregular, and most of 
the houses are built of adobes, over which, in this place, the most 
charming flowers grow from the ground to the roof — almost every 
house being surrounded by a garden. The beautiful Monterey cypress, 
(cupressus macrocarpus,) a favorite ornamental tree, is peculiar to this 
locality. It has not been found in any other part of the State, except 
where transplanted. On the eastern slope of the hills, the California 
laurel (orcodapJme Calif or nica) and the madrone, (arbutus menziesii,) are 
large and numerous. 

Pajaro, twenty miles north; Natividad, twenty-five miles northeast; 
San Juan, thirty-one miles northeasterly; Salinas, sixteen miles east; 
and San Antonio, seventy-five miles southeast ; are each considerable 
towns, containing from one hundred to nine hundred inhabitants. 
There are good roads connecting these towns with Monterey. When 
the projected railroad between Watsonville, an important town in Santa 
Cxviz county, situated on the Pajaro river, and San Jose, in Santa Clara 
county, shall be completed, and Monterey county is connected with San 
Francisco by iron bonds, much of the land now used for grazing will 
become too valuable for that ptirpose, and will be converted into grain 
fields, for which most of it is well adapted. "Watsonville is about fifty 
miles from San Jose, and one hundred miles from San Francisco. 

At present, Monterey county exports a large quantity of butter and 
cheese, grain, fruits and vegetables. Quite an important source of 
wealth to the county are the whale and other fisheries in the bay, and 
along the coast. Large quantities of pure white sand is shipped from 
the bay for the glass works at San Francisco, and for sprinkling the 
imitation stone buildings in that city. Monterey, also contains veins 
of gold and silver bearing quartz, of copper, lead and quicksilver 
ores, of asphaltum, marble, and of numerous minerals of commercial 
value, which ^vill probably pay for development when transportation 
shall be more convenient, and labor less expensive than at present. 



124 THE NATUHAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENU. 

SANTA CmjZ COUNTY. 

Santa Cruz county is situated on tlie nortliem side of tlie bay of 
Monterey. It is one of the smallest counties in the State, but second in 
the importance of its manufactures, only to San Francisco. In outline, 
it is long and narrow, being about fifty miles in length, by from eight to 
thirteen miles wide. Its coast-line measures about fifty miles. The 
whole of the county lies between the summits of the Santa Cruz or 
Gavilan mountains and the sea. It is one of the most mountainous of 
the coast counties. "Within an area of about 500 square miles, or 
320, 000 acres, it contains 40, 000 acres of the richest bottom lands along 
the valleys of the various streams that pass through it, and 50, 000 acres 
of fine agricultural land, which form the terraced plateaus, caused by 
the repeated uprisings of the land. These plateaus extend along the 
coast, the entire length of the county, and reach inland to the limits of 
the timber. This raised land varies in fertility, but is generally pro- 
ductive. The greater portion of the county — 230, 000 acres — consists of 
mountain ranges, much of which is adapted to grazing, and a large 
proportion is densely timbered with magnificent forests of redwood, 
oak, and pine. 

This county is bounded on the north by San Mateo county ; on the 
south, by the bay and county of Monterey; on the east, by Santa Clara 
county; and on the west, by the Pacific ocean. Its population, nearly 
all of whom are Americans, chiefly from the New England States, 
numbers about 11,000. In 1860, there were less than 5,000. Most of 
the best land in the county was originally covered by Spanish and 
Mexican grants, but these have been i)urchased by men of means, and 
subdivided into farms, which is the main cause of the rapid develop- 
ment of its resources. 

The county is watered by several never-failing sti'eams, which run 
from the mountains to the ocean. They are all short, with consider- 
able fall, creating power sufficient for an almost xmlimited number of 
water-wheels, to drive machinery. The chief of these rivers are the 
San Lorenzo, which passes through the county nearly in its center and 
empties into the bay of Monterey, near the town of Santa Cruz ; the 
Soquel, which enters the bay three miles further south ; the Aptos ; 
the Sulsipuedes; and, still further soiith, the Pajaro, (bird,) passing 
between this and Monterey counties; and the Pescadero. The climate 
of this coimty is remarkably varied — places but a few miles apart dif- 
fer as much in temperatm-e and productions, as does the north from 
the south of France. Where sheltered from the sea-breeze, the rose 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 125 

and many other flowers are perpetually in bloom. All tlie grain and 
fruits whicli grow in other parts of the State, except the orange, olive, 
fig, etc., flourish here. The vine, however, does not thrive at points 
below an elevation of seven hundred feet above the sea. 

The toAvn of Santa Cruz, the county seat, is situated on the north 
side of Monterey bay, in a pleasant little nook or bend, formed by a 
spur of the coast range which projects about two miles into the bay. 
It is surrounded with high mountains on all sides except the south- 
east ; on this side it is open to the bay, along which there is a stretch 
of beautiful, pearly white sea-beach. The view from the upper por- 
tion of the town, looking south, is magnificent : the waters of the capa- 
cious bay, nearly thirty miles wide, are pale blue where deepest, and 
shade into snowy whiteness as they approach the smooth sand. The 
town of Monterey, nestled in a similar nook on the opposite shore, 
looks like a huge flower-garden, the green foliage contrasting finely 
with the grey granite of the hills that enclose it, while the brown 
mountains, crested with a dark forest-ridge, form a bold, beautiful 
border. To the right is the wide expanse of the Pacific ocean stretch- 
ing to the limits of the horizon, its surface smooth and bright as a 
mirror, or ruffled into billows by the winds — still grand, under either 
aspect. 

The town is built on lands formerly owned by the old mission of 
Santa Cruz, (Holy Cross,) founded in 1791, which gives name to the 
county. Near the ruins of this old building, a handsome Catholic 
church has been erected. It is Mexican in origin, but has been re- 
constructed by its American possessors. Only a few of the old adobe 
buildings remain, and, until quite recently, a double row of beautiful 
willows, which once formed the fence of the old mission garden, was 
growing in the center of the main street, but the march of improve- 
ment, and the expansion of the town, have caused the destruction of 
nearly all of them. There are good wharf accommodations, but the 
harbor is exposed to all winds except the north, which renders it dan- 
gerous for vessels during the winter; it is, however, the best harbor in 
the county. 

The site of the town furnishes a notable illustration of the several 
elevations to which this portion of the coast has been subjected, during 
a comparatively recent period. It consists of three benches, which 
are from a mile to two miles wide, and extend through the valley. 
The first is thirty feet above the level of high water, the second is 
thirty-four feet higher, and the third is one hundred and ninety-nine 
feet still higher, sho-\ving a total rise of two hundred and sixty-three 



126 THE NATTJEAl AVEALTH OF C/ULIFOENU. 

feet. The business portion of the town, and most of the gardens and 
orchards, are on the lowest of these terraces. The okl mission, and the 
tanneries, which form an important interest here, are located on the 
middle bench. The lime-kilns and several dwellings are on the upper 
one, from which a railroad to connect with the wharf from this point, is 
projected. The entire bones of a whale were found, about two years 
since, on the upper level, near the banks of the Soquel. 

Opposite Santa Cruz, on the southern side of the San Lorenzo 
river, are the ruins of the old Mexican pueblo of Branciforte, which 
was originated as a substitute for the pueblo of San Francisco. Dur- 
ing the past year, nearly one hundred new buildings, chiefly private 
residences, have been erected in the town, and gas-works have also 
been constructed. 

The San Lorenzo valley, in which this town is located, is about 
twenty miles in length, running north-west and south-east, in several 
places narrowing to a mere channel for the river, between high hills ; 
at others, opening into wide plateaus, which are very valuable for 
agricultural purposes. In this county, the chain of mountains which 
divides it from Santa Clara is called the Santa Cruz mountains, while 
that extending to the westward, and forming the blunt i^eninsula that 
projects on the south into the bay of Monterey, and on the north into 
Half-Moon bay, is called the Coast mountains. The head of this val- 
ley is only seven miles from the beautiful Santa Clara valley, but the 
whole of this distance is very mountainous and densely timbered with 
redwood. Shielded from the unpleasant winds which occasionally 
blow from the ocean, with a soil almost to the top of the mountains of 
exceeding richness, and a stream of pure water running through its 
entire length, capable of turning a large number of mill-wheels, it is 
not wonderful that it has become the seat of a busy agricultui-al and 
manufacturing population. 

Pescadero is a flourishing town, about thirty-five miles north-west 
from Santa Cruz, and only fifty miles from San Francisco. It is located 
on both sides of Pescadero creek, near its confluence with the Butano, 
about a mile from the sea-beach. The New San Francisco "Water 
Company will take their supply from the head of the former creek. 
The valley in which this charming place is situated, contains about 
■4500 acres of extremely fertile land, surrounded by high hills on all 
sides except the west, to which it opens to the broad expanse of the 
Pacific ocean. An idea of the quality of the soil in this valley may be 
formed when it is stated that a large crop of potatoes has been raised 
on some portions of it, for twelve consecutive years, without manuring. 



COUNTIES OF CALIFORNIA. 127 

The famotis pebble beach is near this town, where agates, opals, 
jaspers, carnelians, and other silicious stones, of almost eveiy conceiv- 
able variety of color, are found in great abundance, polished with a fine 
lijstre by the smooth sea sand, and the ceaseless motion of the surf. 
These pebbles are of all sizes, the most beautiful ranging from the size 
of a pea to a marble, and are of every imaginable shape. Some are as 
transparent as glass, others only partially so, but marked with variegated 
bands of red, white, green, and blue. The most abundant are of the 
various tints of red peculiar to carnelians ; occasionally opals are 
found, as round and nearly as lustrous as pearls — some few are black as 
j.et, others clear amber colored, or pink, like amethysts. Some stones 
of commercial value are found here ; probably as many as tv/enty tons 
are collected annually for ornamenting walks, and many are cut, and 
set in jewelry. The source from whence they are derived is a stratum 
of coarse, friable sandstone, which skirts the coast for about two miles 
along the beach. It is only in this vicinity that they are found. 
Innumerable pebbles are imbedded in this sandstone, in as highly pol- 
ished a condition as those found on the beach, having doubtless been 
washed on a similar beach for ages before the present one was formed 
by the uplifting of the land. 

Pescadero contains one of the most enterprising communities in 
this progressive coimty. Its residents have built handsome churches, 
school houses, public buildings, hotels, bridges, wharves and private 
residences, equal to any town in the State of the same size. The 
lower hills around the valley afford excellent grazing for large herds 
of cows, from the milk of which this little town annually makes and 
exports to San Francisco one hundred and seventy-five thousand 
pounds of cheese, and fifty thousand pounds of butter, both of good 
quality. The immense "Sanitary cheese," weighing four thousand 
pounds, five feet six inches in diameter, and twenty-two inches thick, 
made for the benefit of the "Sanitary Fund," in 1863, which real- 
ized several thousand dollars by its exhibition and sale, was made in 
this little valley. The exports of oak bark, collected from the forests 
in the higher ranges, furnish another important source of revenue to 
the place. The lumber business, fairly commenced only a year or two 
since, has expanded into large proportions, the mountains and canons 
being covered with forests of redwood and pine. Pescadero is a favor- 
ite resort of pleasure seekers from San Francisco, from which it is only 
six hours drive over good roads. The scenery and climate in the vicin- 
ity are among the finest on the coast. Barley and potatoes are the 
principal crops raised — from sixty to eighty bushels of the former, and 



128 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALITOEXIA. 

two Imndred and fifty lOO-ft) sacks of the latter to tlie acre being not an 
unusual yield. 

For several miles south of Pescadero the coast line presents a bold 
outline of cliffs, formed of sand, gravel and clay, nearly two hundred 
feet high, the remains of the old terraces so often referred to, worn by 
the beating of the waves into little coves and gulches, fringed in many 
places with a luxuriant growth of shrubs and flowers. There are also 
several valleys in this vicinity, in which villages have been located, saw 
mills erected, and the soil cultivated to a considerable extent. 

Five miles south from Pescadero is Pigeon Point, so named from 
having been the scene of the disastrous wreck of the ship Carrier 
Pigeon, several years since. This is both a whaling station and a 
flourishing agricultural district, but labors under great disadvantages for 
lack of a landing place — this part of the coast being very dangerous, 
and almost inaccessible. Yankee ingenuity, however, surmounts these 
difficulties, and the place thrives. During 1867 it exported 6, 200 sacks 
of oats; 3,000 sacks of potatoes; 120,000 pounds of butter; 10,500 of 
cheese; 12,500,000 shingles and nine hundred barrels of whale oil; 
besides large quantities of other produce — the whole of which was 
shipj)ed in the following manner : The surf breaking nearly six hundred 
feet from the line of cliffs which skirts the shore, no boats can land, 
or wharf be built ; a hawser is therefore made fast to the rocks 
beyond the breakers, and to stout posts in the cliff above, at an angle 
of about thirty degrees. On this hawser are large blocks and tackles, 
to which the articles for shipment are attached and lowered into boats 
ready to receive them. These boats convey them to the vessels, which 
are compelled to anchor nearly a mile off the shore. Of course, this 
work cannot be carried on except in fair weather. 

Franklin Point, three miles south of Pigeon Point, is another dan- 
gerous projection from the coast line. This place is named from the 
wi'eck of the Sir John FranUin. The Co^-a, from Australia, was also 
wrecked here in 1866. The graves of the crews, and some of the pas- 
sengers of both vessels, are near the beach. 

Four miles south from Point Franklin, is New Tears Point, where 
there is a break in the coast line, and a small indentation affords a har- 
bor for quite a fleet of vessels engaged in the lumber trade. Here, a 
wharf, seven hundred feet in length, has been constructed on piles, suf- 
ficiently high to be above the surf, which occasionally breaks with 
great fury. Upwards of two million feet of lumber are annually 
shipped from this wharf. Waddell's mills, an extensive lumbering 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOKNIA. 129 

establisliment, five miles distant, among the redwoods, are connected 
with this wharf by a railroad. 

Watsonville, one of the most thrifty towns in this county, is sit- 
uated on the north bank of the Pajaro river, where the road to Monte- 
rey crosses it. It is five miles from the bay of Monterey, and about 
twenty miles southeast from Santa Cruz. It was founded in 1853, by 
J. H. Watson. At present it contains a number of hotels, large stores 
and factories, several churches and school houses, numerous brick and 
frame private dwellings, and is the center of considerable trade, hav- 
ing a good shipping port about three miles distant, on the Salinas river, 
at Elkhorn slough, the Estero de Vallejo of the old Californians. This 
slough, which is about two hundred and fifty feet wide, has such a cir- 
cuitous course to the bay that it is nearly ten miles in length, while 
the distance in a straight line is only four miles. 

The climate of this place difll'ers materially from that of Santa Oru2^ 
being located at the mouth of Pajaro gap, in the Gavilan mountains, 
which causes it to be frequently shrouded in a dense fog, when Santa 
Cruz is enjoying the clearest sunshine. 

Corallitas, about six miles north from WatsonviUe, is the center of 
another important section of the county. The town of the district, 
which contains nearly one thousand five hundred inhabitants, is situated 
in a small valley, through which the Corallitas creek flows on its way to 
the Pajaro. This stream rises to the north between the Loma Prieto, 
(black mountain,) three thousand feet high, and Mount Bache, three 
thousand seven hundred and eighty feet high, (the two highest peaks in 
this section of the Coast Eange, ) and after meandering in a very serpen- 
tine course for about twelve miles through a country densely timbered 
with redwood and oak, unites with the Pajaro about a mile north of the 
town of Watsonville. There are a great number of saw mills and sev- 
eral flouring miUs on this creek, which affords the only water power in 
the southern portion of the county. Nearly one hundred thousand 
acres of land in this district were sold during 1867, in parcels of forty 
to two hundred and fifty acres, for farming purposes, at prices ranging 
from three to thirty dollars per acre. 

Soquel is another growing locality. The town of this district is sit- 
uated on the west side of the Soquel creek, about a mile from the bay 
of Monterey, and three miles easterly from Santa Cruz. This place 
was settled in 1845, by John Hames and John Daubinbiss, who reside 
here still. This creek also rises among the Black mountains, but at 
some distance from the Corallitas, and after winding among the thick 
9 



130 THE NATURAL WEjVLTH OF CALIFORMA. 

timber for eighteen miles, enters tlie bay about three miles east of 
Santa Graz, where a good wharf has been erected. 

Castroville is another town which has been formed within a year or 
two, on the rancho of Eafael Castro, at the mouth of Aptos creek, about 
two miles east of Soquel landing, where a wharf five hundred feet in 
length has been built, from which a large quantity of grain, potatoes, 
and lumber is shipped to San Francisco. In October, 1867, there 
were four thousand cords of wood at this wharf awaiting shipment. 

There are few scenes more strikingly Californian or more naturally 
beautiful than may be met with during a ramble through the redwoods 
of Santa Cruz. The peculiar and delicate cinnamon tint of the bark of 
these superb trees, which not unfrequently measure fifteen feet in diam- 
eter, towering from two hundred to three hrmdred feet in height, and 
sometimes straight and free from branches more than half of that dis- 
tance, the dark green foliage, resting above as a huge canopy, imper- 
vious to the sun's rays, keeps the soil cool and moist, and forms a sort 
of hot-house for numerous varieties of delicate flowers, while in the 
less sheltered canons, the magnificent madrona, the laurel, manzinita, 
sycamore, buckeye and birch, and the numberless varieties of iinder- 
briish, all varying in tint and form, comprise a picture of rare beauty. 
For its luxuriant vegetation and stui'dy gi'owth of timber, as well as its 
genial climate, Santa Cruz is indebted to its position, which fully 
exposes it to the moist and tempering breezes of the ocean. 

About ten miles northeast from the town of Santa Cruz there are 
forty-five cylinders of sandstone, which were at one time supposed to 
be the ruins of an old building. These curious pillars are fi-om forty 
to fifty feet in length, and from one to three feet in diameter, and hol- 
low through their entire length. They rest, at their base, on a stratum 
of sandstone, but pass through a bed of loose sand. They have been 
formed by mineral springs containing lime and iron in solution, which, 
in their passage to the surface, deposited these minerals in the sand, 
concreting it into these cylinders. When the land was uplifted, and 
the source of the springs dried up, the sand, being exposed to the wind, 
was removed, leaving the pillars standing, until some of them fell 
from want of support. They form an interesting object in the topo- 
graphy of the county. 

Among the valuable natural products of this county may be men- 
tioned the chestnut oak, (quercus densijlora,) which grows abimdantly in 
the mountain ranges. The bark of this tree contains more tannic acid 
than any other that grows on the American continent. It is this pecu- 
liarity that causes the California leather to be so much tougher than 



COrrNTIES OF C-VLIFOEiSIIA, 131 

most other kinds. There are at present seven tanneries in Santa Cruz, 
■which consume monthly about three hundred tons of this bark, in making 
55,000 sides of sole, upper and harness leather annually, valued at 
$225, 000, about sixty per cent, of which is sole leather. The best por- 
tion of the trees, after the bark has been removed, is converted into 
staves for flour and lime barrels, of which a large number are made 
annually; the balance of the tree is cut into fire-wood, of which sev- 
eral thousand cords are annually sent to San Francisco. The pecu- 
liarly rich soil of the lower hills produces a great quantity of hazel 
bushes, from which nearly all the hoops used by the powder-works 
and lime-burners are made. The powder company use 1, 700, 000, and 
the lime-works over 300,000, of these hoops annually, and large 
quantities are also exported to other places, without any apparent 
decrease in the supply of the material. These hoop poles sell at 
from $5 to $10 per thousand when split, and give employment to a 
large number of laborers. This adaptation of materials to appropriate 
purposes is illustrative of the spirit of the people who inhabit this 
county. There are many other sections of the State quite as rich in 
natural resources, and as conveniently located with reference to mar- 
kets as Santa Cruz, but they are not inhabited by so enterprising a 
popitlation. 

The number of fish swarming in Monterey bay, is almost incred- 
ible. There is scarcely any description known on the coast, from the 
whale to the sardine, but is caught here. In 1863, an immense shoal 
of herrings, from some unknown cause, was stranded along the beach, 
on the Santa Cruz side of the bay. They extended for nearly three 
miles, and were spread to the depth of from six inches to nearly two 
feet over the entire beach. A whaling station does a profitable busi- 
ness here; occasionally a leviathan enters the bay, when the peculiarly 
transparent water allows him to be seen for miles floundering and bat- 
tling with the swarms of parasites that feast on his blubber, until he is 
captured by the whalers. The sardines in this bay are more numerous 
and of better quality than are caught in many portions of the Mediter- 
ranean, of which thousands of dollars' worth are annually imported 
into the United States. 

Copper ore exists in the Chelone and San Benito districts, near the 
center of the county. 

Oil from petroleum has been made, to some extent, on the Seyente 
rancho, a few miles above the town of Santa Cruz, on the San Lorenzo 
river. There are several other localities in the coimty where petroleimi 
is abundant. 



132 THE NATDEAl WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

Coal lias been discovered about seven miles from Watsonville, on 
the Santa Cruz road, near the Seven Mile bouse, and at Lewis' valley, 
in the eastern portion of the county. There has been but little effort 
made to develope these discoveries. 

Lime is one of the staple products of this county. More than one 
tliird of all the lime used at San Francisco — about 220,000 barrels, 
annually — is brought from Santa Cruz, where it is made from a large 
body of highly crystalline limestone found about two miles north-east 
of the town. 

Gold, in both quartz veins and alluvium, has been discovered in 
several places in this county. In 1854, a boulder of auriferous quartz 
was found on Graham's ranch, which contained nearly $27,000 in gold. 
Quite an extensive mining district was located in the vicinity of this 
discovery, and small quantities of gold and sUver were obtained from 
both quartz ledges and placers; but mining not paying as well as other 
pursuits, it was abandoned. 

In 1863, some excitement was created by the discovery of gold in 
the sand on the beach of Monterey bay, between Aptos landing and 
the Pajaro river. This gold was in exceedingly fine scales, somewhat 
similar to that found nearly four hundred miles further north at Gold 
Bluff, in Klamath county. Being difficult to save, and not yielding 
much to the pan, it did not pay to work. Gold has also been found in 
nearly all the gulches in the vicinity of the town of Santa Cruz. 

The sand along the coast in this county, formed by the erosion of 
the peculiar, white granite, so abundant in the vicinity of the bay, is 
remarkably well adapted for the manufacture of glass. Large quanti- 
ties are collected and shipped to San Francisco, for this purpose. 
About eight miles north from the town of Santa Cruz, at the base of 
the Gavilan mountains, is an immense deposit of this white sand, 
which may be of considerable value when the manufacture of glass 
shall be more extensive in the State than at present. This sand 
contains a large proportion of glassy feldspar, in the composition of 
which there is upwards of twelve per cent, of soda — an impprtant 
ingredient in the manufacture of glass. 

The soU of the valleys of this county is very well adapted for the 
cultivation of leguminous plants, and a large proportion of the beans 
raised in the State is the i^roduct of these valleys. Flax also grows 
with great luxuriance. The table lands, where not cultivated, produce 
enormous crops of wild mustard, tlie seed of which is so much supe- 
rior to that raised further south or north, that it sells for more than 
anv other kind. 



COUNTIES OP CjiLIPOENU. 133 

The crops in this county have never failed through drought. Its 
peculiar topography attracts so much fog and dew as to sustain vegeta- 
tion in the absence of rain. . 

There are eight grist mills in this county, ■which made, in 1867, 
28,000 barrels of flour; twenty-two lumber mills — twelve steam, and ten 
driven by water — capable of sawing 11, 000, 000 feet per annum ; also, 
nine shingle mills, which make over 12,000,000 shingles, annually. 
Among other important manufactures are gunpowder and paper. The 
California Powder Works — the pioneer powder mill in the State — was 
incorporated in December, 1861, and commenced the maniifacture of 
powder in May, 1864, with a capacity of two hundred and fifty kegs per 
day. In May, 1867, its capacity was increased to over six hundred 
and forty kegs per day, chiefly blasting powder, and during the nine 
months ending December 81st, of that year, 158, 500 kegs, containiag 
twenty-five pounds each, were manufactured. 

The San Lorenzo Paper mill made, in 1866, thirty-one thousand reams 
of straw paper, from straw grown in the vicinity, and about six thou- 
sand five hundred reams of newspaper. Owing to the flood of 1866-67, 
operations were suspended from January to June of the latter year. 
During the seven months ending December 31st, 1867, over thirty thou- 
sand reams of -«Trap]3ing paper were made. , 

The manufactures of this county derived an important advantage 
from the great earthquake of 1865. That shaking increased the waters 
of all .the creeks and rivers to nearly double their previous volume, 
during the dry season. 

SiVNTA CLAEA COTJNTY. 

This county is bounded on the north by Alameda and San Mateo 
counties, on the south by Monterey, on the east by Stanislaus, and on 
the west by Santa Cruz county. It is about thirty-five miles in length 
by thirty miles in average width, and contains over 1, 050 square miles, 
or nearly 700,000 acres, of which about 300,000 acres are valley — the 
balance is low grassy hills, or heavily timbered mountains. The greater 
portion of this land is enclosed — large tracts in the mountains being 
fenced for their timber; about 300,000 acres are under actual cultiva- 
tion, this being one of the most important agricultural counties in the 
State. 

The increase in the assessed value of real estate in the coimty during 
the year 1866 exceeded $850,000, and from the large number of new sett- 
lers and the additional land iinder cultivation during the past year, the 
increased valuation for the year 1867 will probably reach SI, 000, 000 



134 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALITOEXIA. 

above that of 1866, making the aggregate assessed value of the real 
property amount to $6, 000, 000. This is far below the actual value. 
It contains a population of twenty-three thousand, of whom seven 
thousand are under fifteen years of age. The county derives its name 
fi-om the old Mission of Santa Clara, founded in 1777. The present 
mission buildings were not erected until 1822, and these are not on the 
site of the original mission. Two previous structures were destroyed, 
one by a flood in 1779, the other by an earthquake in 1781. 

Santa Clara county is not well watered naturally. So large a portion 
of it being in the great valley, it has but few streams. The Guadalupe 
and Coyote creeks are the only water courses of any importance within 
its limits. These have their sources in the southern part of the county, 
and, after flowing some twenty miles among the mountains on the east, 
approach San Jose, and then empty into San Francisco bay, near 
Alviso. An abundant sux:)p]y of water is obtained by means of artesian 
wells, of which there are nearly one thousand in the valley — its geo- 
logical formation being exceedingly favorable for boring. All the 
orchards and gardens about San Jose and Santa Clara are watered by 
this means. In 1856, one of these weUs, in the vicinity of San Jose, 
was bored to the depth of three hundred and twenty-five feet, when the 
water rose in a solid stream, through a seven inch pipe, to the height of 
thirty-two feet above the surface. The great increase in the niunber of 
wells since that time has materially lessened the flow, and but few of 
them now force the water above the surface. Prior to 1860, tho mam- 
moth f oimtains these wells formed in nearly every garden and farm were 
among the attractions of San Jose. The flow of water was so great 
that ditches had to be cut to cany off the surj)lus. Few of the wells 
are more than one hundred feet deep. 

The broad valley of Santa Clara, at the southern extremity of San 
Francisco bay, twenty miles wide, and extending upwards of thirty 
miles southward, is charmingly undulated with gently rounded hills, 
and beautifully diversified with clumps of oak and numberless farms, 
gardens, cottages, towns, and villages. 

The peculiar geograpJiical position of this county, in a broad valley 
nearly surrounded by mountains, causes it to enjoy an equable climate; 
but it is from ton to fifteen degrees warmer than that of San Fran- 
cisco, being comparatively free from the cold winds and fogs which pre- 
vail nearer the coast. The greater portion of the soil on the lower 
plains is a rich black, sandless loam, called "adobe," which yields from 
twenty-five to thirty bushels of wheat to the acre. Many fields have 
been planted with grain for ten consecutive years without manuring — • 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 135 

tlie last crop being the heaviest. This is particularly the case on what 
is known as Stockton's ranch, a large tract of land on the east side of 
the valley, purchased by Commodore Stockton in 1847. There are 
other sections where the land thus continually "cropped" with wheat, 
on which the yield is much lighter than formerly. Some of the new 
land yields as high as seventy-five bushels of wheat to the acre. The 
wheat raised in the eastern portion of the valley, where the soil is some- 
what gravelly, sells for the highest price in the San Trancisco market, 
and makes the finest flour. 

Along Los Gatos creek, about a mile from San Jose, there is a 
tract of rich bottom land which, a few years since, was covered with 
willows, but now contains about thirty acres of hops, which it produces 
luxuriantly. The crop at this place, for 1867, was estimated at thirty- 
five thousand pounds. About the town of Santa Clara — the highest 
land in the valley — the soil is lighter and more sandy ; similar land 
extends beyond Gilroy, thirty miles south of San Jose, but it is not 
generally cultivated, as it does not prove remunerative to haul produce 
to market by teams from that point. When the railroad to Watson viUe 
is constructed, many thousands of acres in this district will be culti- 
vated, which are now used for grazing. One reason why much of the 
hill and mountain land on the west side of Santa Clara valley, about 
Gilroy, and south of that place, is retained for grazing purposes, is, 
that being within the range of the fogs from the ocean, the grass is 
green, and affords good pasturage during the summer. Every year, 
large numbers of stock are driven from some of the southern and inte- 
rior counties to be fed on the fresh pasturage of these hills. So val- 
uable are some of these lands for this purpose, that their owners hold 
them at higher prices than the grain lands of the valleys. 

The high lands bounding the valley on the east and west are admir- 
ably adapted for the cultivation of the grape, to which large tracts have 
been applied. The soil of these hills is a dark brown, sandy loam, 
quite unlike that of the valley. The common California grape, which 
does not ripen until September in other localities, on the hills south- 
east of San Jose, ripens in July and August. The highest ridges of 
the mountains are in many places densely timbered, affording a supply 
of good lumber and fuel. The slopes around the edge of the valley are 
covered with wild oats and native grasses, and afford excellent pastu- 
rage for large herds of cows. The butter and cheese made about 
Gilroy are famous for their richness. There are very few cattle raised 
in the county, it being so generally under cultivation with grain and 
fruit. 



136 THE NATUR.\X WE^U.Tn OF CVLITORNIA. 

From San Jose to Gilroy, a distance of nearly thirty miles, the val- 
ley in the summer forms an almost unbroken wheat field. In May, 
June, and July, when the grain is ripening, the view of this portion of 
the valley is a marvel of beauty. The farmer's houses, surrounded by 
gardens and orchards, appear like beautiful green islands in a golden 
sea. A month later, the whole scene is changed ; the waving grain has 
all been cut, and huge stacks of yellow straw and dingy grain bags are 
piled up in all directions, the latter waiting to be hauled to market. 
In the spring it presents still another aspect, when the yoiing gi-ain is 
just peeping above the black soil, and the purple and white blossoms of 
the apricot and peach form a striking contrast in color with the hazy 
neutral tint of the distant mountains. 

The great extent of level land in this valley admits of the use of all 
descriptions of agricultural machinery; the consequence is that nearly 
all the work on the large farms is performed with almost incredible 
rapidity. A thousand acres are sometimes plowed, seeded, and cut in 
less time than is required on farms of one hundred acres in many parts of 
Eulrope. This advantage, together with the much larger yield per acre, 
compensates for the higher price of land, labor and material. Large 
tracts of this valley produce volunteer crops, which are cut for hay, 
yielding generally about two tons per acre.' 

There are about forty steam threshing machines, and a large num- 
ber run by horse-power, in this county; also, ten first-class grist-mills 
capable of turning out 1,600 barrels of flour daily; and ten saw-mills, 
with power adequate to cut 70, 000 feet of lumber per day. There are 
seven tanneries — three at San Jose, three at Santa Clara, and one near 
McCartysville — which, in the aggregate, make from 12,000 to 13,000 
sides of leather annually. 

San Jose, the county seat, is situated near the Guadalupe river, 
about nine miles from the head of San Francisco bay, fifty miles from 
the city of San Francisco. It is an old Spanish pueblo, founded in 
1777, the first founded by that government in this State, but presents 
none of the features of such an origin except a few adobe houses on 
the plaza, and the row of willows which form the alameda between it 
and Santa Clara, tw.o miles distant. This unique gi'ove, one of the 
finest drives in the State, was planted by the missionaries, in 1799, as 
a walk to connect the pueblo of San Jose with the mission church, near 
where it now stands, at Santa Clara. San Jose is the center of an im- 
portant agricultural district, the development of the resom-ces of which 
has been greatly augmented by the construction of the San Francisco 
and San Jose railroad, completed in 1863. Nearly one half of its prin- 



COUNTIES OF CALITORXLV. 137 

cipal buildings lias been erected since that time, and its j)opiilation, 
importance, and the value of real estate, have more than doubled. In 
1S60, it had but 3,000 inhabitants j at present, it has upwards of 7,000, 
including the suburbs. Land in the vicinity of the alameda, -which a 
year or two since could have been purchased for $50 per acre, now 
sells at from 1200 to S300 per acre. Six important stage-lines radiate 
from this place, in connection with the railroad ; and the long line of 
farmers' wagons and heavy teams, the whirr of the stages, the whistling 
and bell-ringing of the locomotives, the rattle of machinery, the throng 
of people, and general activity, all tell of thrift and progress. 

It contains many fine public buildings, stores and private resid- 
ences, including six churches, and several colleges and public schools, 
a fine park planted with trees and rare plants, and has more of a metro- 
politan appearance than any other town in the State, except San Fran- 
cisco and Sacramento. The court-house, in the northern part of the 
city, is the finest structure of the kind in the State. It is constructed 
of stone, brick, and iron, in the Corinthian style ; is 100 feet in width, 
140 feet in length, and 56 feet high to the top of the cornice, above 
which a dome,- 50 feet in diameter, rises 59 feet higher. The front is 
an hexastyle portico, 76 feet high and 15 feet deep, reached by a flight 
of 13 solid granite steps. The six Corinthian columns, 4 feet in diam- 
eter and 38 feet high, support an elegant entablature 10 feet high. 
The exterior walls are ornamented with pillastres, to correspond with 
the front ; the interior is fitted up with equal taste and elegance. The 
main court-room is 48 by 68 feet, and 38 feet high, lighted from the 
ceiling by 12 highly enriched panels of groimd glass. The total cost 
of the building exceeded $150, 000. At certain seasons of the year, the 
view from the dome of this building is one of the most charming and 
suggestive to be found in the State. The valley at this point, nearly 
fifteen miles wide, is a perfect net-work of fences; the whole of it, as 
far as the eye can range, being under thorough cultivation, each parcel 
of land differing in tint, according to the crop and the stage of its 
growth. For miles around the building, as a foreground, are solid 
masses of orchards and nurserj gardens, thickly planted with fruit- 
trees and flowering plants, for San Jose has always been the nursery 
garden of the State, where exotics are acclimatized. Here may be 
seen the strange but beautiful shrubs and flowers from Japan and 
China, the gum and acacia trees from Australia, the geranium and 
fuschia from the south of Eiirope, the rose, box and holly from Eng- 
land, the blackthorn from Ireland, the lily from France, the pink and 
carnation from Germany, the tulij) from Holland, the currant and fig 



138 THE NATUEAL 'WEALTH OF CALIFOKNIA. 

from Greece, tlie olive and grape from Italy and Portugal, the glorious 
magnolia and camelia japonica from the "sunny south," and the sturdy 
pine from the cold north — all blooming and growing in the genial open 
air, beside the cactus and palm, the cypress, cedar and sequoia, and 
other beautiful indigenous trees and jjlauts of ■the Pacific coast, forming 
a variety of foliage not to be seen outside of Caliiornia, and a sort of 
floral representation of the cosmopolitan character of the population of 
the State. In some of the vineyards of this place, as many as 120 vari- 
eties of grapes, from all parts of the world, are cultivated successfully. 
The j)ear gi'ows here in extraordinary luxuriance and beauty — many of 
the older trees producing from 3,500 to 4,000 pounds each season. 
Few of these trees were planted prior to 1852. There are 5, 000 cherry 
trees in the gardens of San Jose', cultivated to supply the San- Fran- 
cisco market, besides a large number in private orchards. The aver- 
age product of seven-eighths of these trees is one hundred and fifty 
pounds of cherries each. 

The Hon. J. E. Brown, who owns a vineyard near San Jose, has 
introduced the cultivation of the raisin-grape, {facjer xa^os,) which thrives 
remarkably well. One stem, in the summer of 1867, yielded between 
thirty and forty pounds of this fruit, in fine bunches, as a first croj) for 
that year, and was loaded in November with nearly as many more. 
The climate of this valley is well adapted for drying all kinds of fniit. 
The success of Mr. Brown's experiment, has induced several other 
parties to cultivate the raisin-grape here ; Santa Clara will conse- 
quently produce in a few years large quantities of raisins. 

The first silk-worms raised in the State were hatched at this place. 
They were obtained from Adrian ople, (Turkey,) by Messrs. Prevost 
& Hentsch. Several attempts were previously made to introduce the 
worm from Europe, but without success. More expeditious means of 
transportation have, however, since enabled the European worms to be 
introduced. There are also worms from China and other parts of the 
world, all of which appear to thrive. Large mulberry orchards, culti- 
vated to feed the silk-worm, are raised here, and a factory is to be 
established for the manufacture of silk. The business of silk-making 
may yet become an important interest at this point. 

A portion of the Western Pacific railroad, extending north from 
San Jose into Alameda county, has been completed a distance of 
twenty miles, but has not been brought into use. The proposed South- 
ern Pacific railroad is to start at San Jose', and run through the entire 
county, southeasterly. 

Santa Clara is situated on a slight emiaence, about two miles 



COUNTIES OP CAUFOKNIA. 139 

north-west from San Jose, to whicli it is united by the alameda, rapidly 
becoming a continuous street between the two places. The University 
of the Pacific is located near this alameda. Santa Clara contains five 
churches and several excellent schools. The old mission which gives 
name to the county, forms a portion of the present Jesuit college. 
The olive trees and vineyards of the old establishment are in an 
excellent state of preservation. From this place, looking north, may be 
seen the dim oiitline of the mountains beyond San Francisco, with the 
city, bay, and sliipping, at their feet ; to the east, the Monte Diablo 
ranges, with their shady nooks and gently sloping sides, form a border 
to the valley; west and south, are the mountains of the coast, and a 
little west of south, the extensive works of the New Almaden quick- 
silver mine are distinctly seen. 

Gilroy, named after an early settler in the State, about thirty miles 
south-east from San Jose, is a flourishing town situated between the 
Coast Eange and the Contra Costa mountains, in the southern part of 
the Santa Clara valley. It contains four churches, a school-house, and 
many well built stores and residences. Old Gilroy resides at San Tse- 
dro, about three miles from the town, in the same old adobe house 
built forty years ago. North-east of the town, along the sloping edges 
of the plateau which forms the center of the great Santa Clara valley, 
is the grazing district of this county. Here, thousands of sleek cows 
find abundant pasturage, which imparts to their milk such richness as 
to cause the butter and cheese from this locality to be among the best 
that reaches the San Francisco market. The mountains six miles west 
afford an abundant supply of lumber and fuel. The proposed railroad 
from San Jose to Watsonville, will pass through this place. 

About six miles easterly from Gilroy, is the Canon de los Osas, 
(Bear's canon,) which, a few years ago, was a favorite resort of the 
"grizzly." It is a wild but exquisitely beautiful gorge, through a 
range of high mountains, covered with live oak, sycamore, and a dense 
underbrush, which is still full of small game; but "bruia" has been 
exterminated. The red clover and bunch grass growing luxuriantly 
here, are the favorite food of many kinds of game. The creeks and 
pools are also full of fine trout. 

About fourteen miles from the town, in a small rocky ravine, on the 
Coyote canon, near the headwaters of that creek, where the mountains, 
timbered to their summits, rise several hundred feet on both sides of 
that creek, a Mexican shepherd, while htmting for some of his stray 
flock, in 18G5, discovered what are now the well known Gilroy springs. 
The hot spring, represented as possessing remarkable medicinal qual- 



140 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIPOENU, 

ities, discliarges continuously about three inclies of water of a nearly 
uniform temperature of 110^ Fahrenlieit, at all seasons. Tills -water 
contaitfs in solution, iron, soda, magnesia, sulphur and baryta, and a 
large quantity of it is bottled and sold in San Francisco. It is by no 
means unpleasant, but pungent to the taste. Within fifteen feet of this 
hot spring there are a dozen or more large springs of pure, cold water. 
The beauty of the surrounding scenery, and the cui-ative- qualities of 
the waters, have caused the erection of a fine hotel on the edge of the 
caiion, to reach which a good road has been made from Gilroy. 

Lexington, twelve miles southwest from San Jose, is situated in a 
gap in the Sierra Azrul, as the Santa Cruz mountains are here called, in 
a beautiful amphitheater of densely timbered mountains nearly two 
thousand feet high, that surround it on all sides. There are extensive 
tracts of good farming and grazing lands in these mountains. In the 
plateaus formed by the rising of the land, the grape, apple, peach and 
otlier fruits, as well as all the cereals, grOAV remarkably well. There 
are a number of good orchards, and upwards of one thousand acres of 
cultivated land in this district, which invariably produce fine crops. 
Six of the largest lumber mills in the county are located here. Los 
Gatos creek, passing through it, furnishes abundant water power. 
This is also one of the most noted sections of the State for split lum- 
ber, such as posts, rails, and pickets. The timber here splits with a 
peculiar smoothness and straigiitness. Upwards of one million feet 
of this description of lumber are annually shipped from Lexingtoli. 

McCartysville, ten miles southAvest from San Jose, is situated at the 
foot of the Coast Range, in a pleasant valley nearly surrormded by moun- 
tains, some of which are more than three thousand feet high, from which 
flows Campbell's creek, a considerable stream of water, giving ade- 
quate water powerfor a number of lumber and grist mills located on it 
— Clumber and grain being staple products of the district. Farming, 
stock raising, and the cultivation of fi-uit, are also carried on success- 
fidly. The remarkable increase in the supply of water in the San Lo- 
renzo river, after the earthquake of 1865, referred to in the tojoogi-aphy 
of Santa Cruz county, extended to this place, which is nearly twenty 
miles north from that river. The water in Campbell's creek was 
doubled in volume, greatly to the advantage of the millers and lumber- 
men. 

One mile above, and northwest of McCartysville, on Campbell's 
creek, are situated the Pacific Congi-ess springs, so called because of 
the resemblance of the waters to those of Congress spring, one of the 
fountains at Saratoga, New York. There are at this place tkree of 



COUNTIES OF CALIPOBNIA. 141 

tliese springs, tlie two lower but four feet apart, the tliird being sepa- 
rated from them by a space of about fifty feet. They are but a foot or 
two deep, being excavated from the sandstone, the lower one, which 
receives the drainage of the others, sending off a stream about two 
inches in size. The water from these several springs is so nearly alike 
that the difference can scarcely be perceived by the taste. By analysis 
it is sho^vn to contain 335.85 grains of solid matter to the gallon, com- 
posed as follows : 

Chloride of sodium 119.159 

Sulphate of soda 12.140 

Carbonate of soda 123. 351 

Carbonate of iron 14.030 

Carbonate of lime 17.295 

Silica alumina, with a trace of magnesia 49.882 

It is considered a healthful and refreshing beverage, and though 
but recently introduced, is fast gaining favor with the public, about 
eighty dozen bottles being sent away daily, besides considerable 
quantities consumed by guests visiting the springs. The gas is col- 
lected in a receiver placed over the principal fountaiu of the group, 
whence it is conducted through a pipe and forced into the bottles. 

Alviso, the shipping port of Santa Clara county, is located at the 
junction of the Alviso slough and the Guadalupe river, about three 
miles from the bay of San Francisco, and eight miles north of San Jose'. 
There are good wharves at this place for the accommodation of shipping, 
and a number of flour mills, granaries, and stores. The Alviso brand 
of flour is one of the best in the State. 

New Almaden is situated about thirteen miles southerly from San 
Jose, on the Alamitos creek, in a narrow glen, nearly five hundred feet 
above tide level, between high ranges of mountains, Mount Chisnan- 
tuck, the culminating peak on one side being nearly one thousand eight 
hundred feet high, and Mount Umunhum, to the other, nearly one 
thousand five hundred feet in height. This place was located in 1845, by 
Don Andres Castillero, the original discoverer of the New Almaden 
quicksil'ser mines, which are situated in the mountains on the southwest 
of the town, and nearly nine hundred feet above it; but the deposits of 
cinnabar extend for several miles along the range. The town of New 
Almaden contains about one thousand eight hundred inhabitants, nearly 
all 'of whom are either employed about the mines and works, or in min- 
istering to the wants of those who are. 

The Enriquita mine is two miles northwest from the Almaden, and 
the Guadalupe two miles still further north. The details pertaining to 



142 THE NATUR.\L WEiU^TII OF CALIFORNLV. 

these mines are given in anotlier cliapter, devoted to the subject of 
"Quicksilver." 

Another to-mi connected with a quicksilver mine has sprung up 
"within the past year, about three and a half miles south from San Jose, 
on Chapman's ranch. The developments in the Bautista mine, located 
here, are such as to warrant the belief that the discovery is of some 
importance. Pumaces, several stores, and private residences have 
been built at this place within a few months. 

There are excellent roads throughout the county, mainly connected 
with San Jose', but more are needed for the proper development of its 
resources. 

In addition to the important deposits of cinnabar in this county, it 
also contains several veins of copper ore, which have been worked to 
some extent. Petroleum and asphaltum are abundant in the range of 
mountains between Gilroy and Watsonville, particularly on Sargent'a 
ranch, and in Moody's gulch, near Lexington, at a point one thousand 
one hundred feet above the sea. A number of wells were sunk here in 
1865, and small quantities of oil were obtained. 

BAN MATEO COUNTX. 

This county embraces nearly the whole of the peninsula of San 
Francisco, which separates the bay from the Pacific ocean. It is ovei 
thirty miles in length, six miles wide on the north where it joins the 
county of San Francisco ; nearly sixteen miles wide in its center, and 
ten miles wide on the south, adjoining Santa Cruz county. It was or- 
ganized in 1856, when it was separated from San Francisco, to which 
county it formerly belonged. It contains 154,980 acres, 140,000 of 
which are enclosed, 62, 000 being under cultivation. A branch of the 
Gavilan, or Santa Cruz mountains, here called the Sierra Moreno, 
traverses it from north to south, reaching an altitude in some places, 
of 3, 000 feet, averaging about 1, 500 feet, forming two slopes, the east- 
em one shedding its waters into the bay of San Francisco, and the 
western into the Pacific ocean. These mountains, in the southern 
part of the county, are steep and rugged, but covered with^redwood 
and oak. 

A bench, from two to five miles wide, which skirts the bay of San 
Francisco, and another about a mile wide and ten miles long, near 
HaK Moon bay, caused by the uplifting of the land, are among' the 
most valuable portions of the county, for agricultural purposes. This 
land is exceedingly fertile, and produces fine crops of the cereals, but 
small tracts in the moxmtains, and many charming little valleys among 



COTOTTIES 0? CAXIFOENIA. 143 

them, are also under cultivation, in which grow luxuriantly, fruits, vege- 
tables and grain. Much of the mountain land is also used for grazing 
purposes ; many large herds of cows are kept here, which supply some 
of the best milk consumed in San Francisco. 

The excellence of the climate, which is milder and less humid than 
that of San Francisco, and the accessibility of that city, have caused 
this county to be thickly settled for homestead purposes. Here a 
large number of the wealthy citizens of the metropolis have erected 
private residences, around which, all that money, taste, and skill, can 
accomplish in the way of adding to the natural beauty of the scenery, 
has been done. Few counties in the State contain a greater number of 
elegant private mansions and gardens, than San Mateo. The San 
Francisco and San Jose railroad, passing through it for nearly twenty 
miles, has greatly tended to increase the number of this class of resi- 
dents, and materially aided in developing the resources of the county. 
Its population, at the close of 1867, numbered 6,000; in 1863, it 
contained only 3, 250. The value of its real estate and productions, 
has increased in a still greater proportion since the completion of the 
railroad. 

San Mateo is one of the dairy counties of California, much atten- 
tion being paid to this business. The facilities for feeding the stock; 
the heavy fogs from the ocean condensing on the slopes of the hills, 
keeping the pasturage green for months after the grass is withered in 
the valleys, and the convenience to San Francisco, afford many advan- 
tages to dairymen. There are fifteen dairies in this county, which, 
collectively, have five thousand cows. 

The county contains two water, and three steam saw-mills, of suffi- 
cient power to saw 35,000 feet of lumber daily; three shingle-mUls, 
with capacity for cutting 75, 000 per day; and two grist-mills, capable 
of making 200 barrels of flour daily. Its chief resources are grain and 
lumber. 

Eedwood city, the county seat, about twenty-eight miles south from 
San Francisco, is situated on the edge of a broad plain, extending 
from an estuary of the bay of San Francisco, through which passes 
Kedwood creek, navigable a short distance for schooners, drawing seven 
feet of water. This plain is but little above the level of high tide, 
large patches of it being a salt marsh. It gradually rises as it ap- 
proaches the mountains, most of it being under cultivation. The city, 
which was founded in 1851, contains many good stores and private, as 
well as public, buildings ; several churches and schools, and about 
eight hundred inhabitants. It is the chief shipping place for the 



144 THE NATUEAi WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

county; considerable quantities of redwood, lumber, firewood, grain, 
flour, fruit and vegetables, milk, butter, cheese, and other produce, 
are sent from here to the San Francisco market. 

Half Moon bay, about twenty miles north-west from Eedwood city, 
on the opposite side of the peninsula, is the shipping port for that por- 
tion of the coxmty. 

There are several other towns and villages in this county, the chief 
employment of the inhabitants of which is farming and lumbering. 

The Caiiada del Eeymundo, situated nearly in the center of the 
county, enclosed between lofty mountains, is one of the most beautiful 
places in the coast-range — about six miles in length, by about two 
miles wide, the surrounding mountains covered nearly to their sum- 
mits with live oak, madrona, bay, laurel, maple and young redwood ; 
the lower hills with buckeye, elder, willow, and alder; every level spot 
a grain field, garden, orchard, or grassy meadow, Avith cottages peeping 
out of nooks and corners ; while the running water from numerous 
springs, and the music of swarms of birds that nestle in the thick un- 
derbrush, all combine to form a scene so secluded and peculiarly rural, 
that it is not possible to conceive anything more in contrast with the 
dust and turmoil of San Francisco, only two hours' ride distant. The 
whole of this charming glen was included in a grant made by the 
Mexican Government, to John Coppinger, one of the early settlers; but 
it has since been subdivided among a number of persons, and now 
forms one of the most important farming and stock-raising districts in 
the county. 

San Andreas valley, near the headwaters of the San Mateo creek, 
which gives name to the county, is a similar, but somewhat smaller 
valley. 

Crystal Springs, where a number of springs of clear, cold water 
break through the rocks in a beautiful canon, is one of the resorts of 
the people of San Francisco. The roads are good, and the scenery 
fine in the vicinity. 

The greater portion of the water used for domestic purposes in San 
Francisco, is obtained from Pillarcitos creek, in this county, whence 
it is conveyed by means of iron pipes a distance of twenty miles. 
The Spring Valley Water company have constructed extensive works in 
the Pillarcitos caiion for the purpose of collecting and distributing this 
water. Their dam has formed a beautiful lake, two miles in length by 
about one thousand feet in average width, wliich is surrounded by pre- 
cipitous hills, combining to make it one of the most attractive spots 
vrlthin so convenient a distance from San Francisco. This dam crosses 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 145 

tlie canon at a point where it makes a short curve, is five hundred 
and forty feet long on the top, and three hundred feet at bottom; four 
hundred and fifty feet thick at base, and twenty feet thick at a height of 
ninety-six feet ; the water within it being of an average depth of fifty 
feet, but nearly one hundred feet in some places. The quantity thus 
collected amounts to about 1, 300, 000, 000 gallons — sufiicient to supply 
the city for two years at the present irate of consumption, if no rain 
were to fall during that time. This large body of water is six him- 
dred and thirty feet above the level of Montgomery street, so that by 
mere pressure the supply can be extended over any portion of the city. 
The geological formation of the mountains in the vicinity of this lake 
being chiefly granite, limestone, and indurated slate, the water is gen- 
erally clear, but to insure the utmost purity, it is passed through beds 
of gravel, sand and charcoal, before distribution. 

The Corte Madera Water company's works are located in the foot 
hills, about seven miles west of Eedwood City, where they collect the 
waters of Bear gulch, a branch of the San Francisquito. Their reser- 
voir holds 30, 000, 000 gallons of water, and supplies Eedwood City and 
Menlo Park. 

In minerals, San Mateo is one of the poorest counties in the State. 
In July, 1863, a vein of auriferoxis quartz was discovered in the San 
Andreas valley, and gold and silver have been found in small quantities 
at other places. Sulphur, and sulphur springs, are known to exist in 
several localities, and coal has also been found near the Mountain Home 
mill, and at other points on both slopes of the mountains. 

SAN FKANCISCO COXJNTT. 

As a separate chapter will be devoted to the history and resources 
of this county, its topography is omitted from the division of coast 
counties. 

ALAMEDA COTJNTy. 

Alameda county forms the eastern shore of San Francisco bay, for 
about thirty-six miles, running in a north-westerly and south-easterly 
direction, and extends from the bay, on the west, to the summit of the 
Monte Diablo range, a distance of nearly thirty-five miles. It con- 
tains about 800 square miles, or 512,000 acres, nearly equally divided 
between mountains, valleys, and plains. Nearly 175,000 acres are en- 
closed, and 125,000 under cultivation. About 20,000 acres along the- 
margin of the bay, are overflowed by the tide. 

The Contra Costa and Monte Diablo ranges of the coast moun- 
tains, cross this county from north to south, running, nearly parallel,, 
10 



146 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNU. 

and sepai'ated by a few miles, the former being the more westerly. 
Numerous spurs from each project, at various angles, forming a series 
of beautiful and fertile valleys, all connected with each other, but 
having different names where thus partially separated by these spurs. 
Among the most important of these valleys, are Livermore, Sunol, 
Castro, Amador, and Morago. The plains embrace the nearly level 
land stretching along the shore of the bay, from Alviso to San Pablo, a 
distance of forty miles. This strip lies between the bay of San Fran- 
cisco and the foothills to the east, and has an average width of about 
five miles. These valleys and plains are mostly covered with a rich, 
loamy soil, much of which is under a high state of cultivation, and 
produces abundantly. 

The principal stream in this county, and from which it derives its 
name, is the Alameda creek. It rises in the Monte Diablo range, near 
Livermore pass, and running through a caiion in the Contra Costa 
mountains, near the old mission of San Jose, empties into San Fran- 
. cisco bay, near Unionville, supplying water-power for several grist and 
other mills on the way. The San Lorenzo, San Leandro, San Antonio, 
and Temescal creeks, rise in the Contra Costa mountains and flow into 
the bay, through the Alameda plains. There are several navigable 
sloughs running through the overflowed lands and connecting with 
these streams. Near the north end of the county is San Antonio creek, 
on the north shore of which is situated the city of Oakland. At the 
mouth of San Leandro creek, is the bay of San Leandro, on which the 
town of Alameda is located. Extensive wharves and piers have been 
erected at these places, and the bars obstructing the channels leading 
to them have been deepened and improved, so that vessels of consider- 
able burden can arrive and depart at any stage of the tide. 

There are several low passes through both the mountain ranges — 
Livermore, on the north, through the Monte Diablo range, thirty 
miles from the .bay, being only six hundred and eighty-eight feet high ; 
the "Western Pacific railroad wiU be built through this pass. Corral 
Hollow pass, in the same range, lies ten miles south of Livermore's. 
These low passes, the long stretches of level land, with the proximity 
of Alameda county to San Francisco, secure to it great advantages. 

The San Francisco and Alameda railroad, opened August, 18G5, com- 
mences at Woodstock, on the slough at the mouth of San Leandro 
creek where a wharf projects some distance into the bay, and extends 
to Hayward's, sixteen and a half miles south-east, among the foothills 
of the Contra Costa mountains. It runs through a fine level country, 
cultivated almost every foot of the way, and has numerous stations con- 



COUNTIES OF CAlITOENIi^.. 



147 



nected with cro^-roads, by means of -whicli tlie products of a -wide 
extent of country are rapidly transported to San Francisco. This road 
will connect with the Western Pacific, at Washington Corners, thirteen 
miles soxith of Hayward's. 

The Oakland and San Francisco railroad, opened in April, 1863, 
begins on a pier, extending 3,500 feet into the bay of San Francisco, 
opposite the city of Oakland, and runs to San Antonio, five miles, and 
is soon to be extended, to form a junction with the Alameda road. 
The distance from San Francisco to the western terminus of this line, 
is four and a third miles, but arrangements are in progress to extend 
the wharf toward Goat (Terba Biiena) island, about three-fourths of a 
mile beyond the present terminus. When this work shall be com- 
pleted, the distance to be traversed by boats will not exceed three miles 
and three quarters. At present, it requires forty-five minutes to cross 
from San Francisco to Oakland. The boats running on these routes 
are capacious and swift, and arrive and depart nearly every hour in 
the day. 

With the exception of a belt of evergreen-oak, quercus agrifoUa, 
which margins the bay, and gives name to the several encinals (encinal 
being the Spanish Vi^ord for an oak grove), a few groves of deciduous 
oak, quercus sonomensis, and a small number of redwood trees in 
the mountains south of Sunol valley and east of Fruitvale, the 
county is at present poorly timbered. It was in a much better condi- 
tion, in this respect, a few years ago. The redwood at one time gTew 
to an enormous size in the mountains about five miles east from San 
Aatonio. The remains of a forest of these trees exist at this place, 
which is about half a mile wide, and extends down the eastern slope of 
the mountains about two miles. Here grew hundreds of the largest 
trees that have been found in the Coast Range. One stump still remain- 
ing in tolerable preservation, measures thirty-two feet in diameter. 
Nearly every tree in this once noble forest, has been cut down and con- 
verted into lumber, but the ground is thickly covered with vigorous 
saplings, which, in a few years, may form another fine forest, as this 
tree grows with great rapidity. 

The soil of the plains in this county is generally a rich, black, 
sandy loam, from six to fifteen feet deep, resting on a substratum of 
sand and gravel, and is sufficiently moist to grow any descriiDtion of 
fruit, grain, or vegetables, without irrigation. The soil on the foot- 
hills and mountains is somewhat lighter in color, not so deep, but 
gravelly and dry, and everywhere fertile. 

With so fine a soil and climate, and with so many facilities and 



1-iS THE NATUTwVL WTEALTH OF CALIFOEKIA. 

inducements for its cultivation, the greater portion of tliis county, ad- 
jacent to tlie bay of San Francisco, has been converted into continuous 
gardens, orchards, and grain-fields ; but much of the best land in the 
south-eastern part of the county, east of the Contra Costa mountains, 
including portions of the Amador and Sunol valleys, is but partially 
cultivated, for want of the cheap and expeditious transportation sup- 
plied by raih'oads. 

Thirteen miles south-east from Oakland, on the northern bank of 
the San Lorenzo creek, is the garden from which Oregon obtained its 
best apple, and other fruit-trees. In 1846, Mr. John Lewelling, the 
pioneer nurseryman of the Pacific coast, took a wagon-load of fruit- 
trees raised here, into that State^ which were among the first ever 
planted there. In this vicinity are several other extensive nursery and 
seed gardens, the soil and climate being peculiarly weU fitted for horti- 
cultural purposes. Here, Mr. Daniel L. Perkins raised the hundred 
and thirty varieties of vegetable seeds exhibited at the Paris Exposi- 
tion, in 1867, for which he obtained a premium, and, what proved 
more profitable, numerous orders for supplies from the Atlantic States, 
France, England, Gennany, liussia, China, Japan, and several other 
countries. The products of this gentleman's little patch, of about 
twelve acres, thus spreading over the three gi-eat continents, is singu- 
larly suggestive of the silent but effective influence the jjroductions of 
California are exerting abroad. 

To illustrate the richness of the soil in this locality, and the propor- 
tions of the vegetables raised here, we mention the following facts : 
A beet raised in Mr. Lewelling's garden, weighed 200 lbs. ; in 1867, 
Mr. K. S. Farelly raised a caiTot which measured 36 inches in length 
and 31 inches in circumference, weighing 31 poimds after the leaves 
were cut off. These mammoth proportions are not confined to the 
vegetables raised here, but extend to fruits, flowers, and ben-ies. 
Cherries of the Graffan variety, grown in Lewelling's orchard, in 1867, 
were selling in the streets of San Francisco, which measured three 
inches in circumference ; pears raised here frequently weigh three and 
a half poimds ; strawberries, which are extensively cultivated, also 
grow to an extraordinary size. Mr. Pancoast, who in 1867 cultivated 
a patch of eighty acres, raised many berries weighing from one and a 
quarter to one and a half oimces each. Mr. A. Lusk has a field of 
raspberries in this vicinity, containing upwards of eighty-five acres, 
which produces enormous quantities of this delicious fmit, and there 
are several other quite extensive strawberry, raspberrj% and blackberry 
patches — all of which are more jjarticularly referred to imder the 



COtTNTTES OF CALIFOBNIA. 149 

head of "Fruits." The above are merely mentioned in this place -with 
a view to illustrate the extreme richness of the soil in .this locality. 

Amador valley, formerly the vaUey of San Jose, where the padres of 
that old mission pastured their cattle, is now the great grain district 
of this county. It is of a triangular form, about eight miles in dia- 
meter, and nearly surrounded by low, grassy hiUs, being sjDurs of the 
Monte Diablo and Contra Costa ranges. Its soil is a moist, sandy 
loam, producing good crops of wheat, barley, and corn, when less 
favored districts suffer from drought. Where not luider cultivation, its 
surface is covered with thick crops of wild oats and bur clover, the 
most nutritious of all the native grasses. Less than ten years since, 
this valley was a cattle-ranch — 20,000 cattle, 15,000 sheep, and 3,000 
horses finding abundant pasturage in the vicinity. But it is all fenced 
in now, and no cattle except milch cows, working oxen, and horses, 
graze on the surrounding hills. 

The increase in the value of land in this valley, since it has been 
brought under cultivation, and its productiveness ascertained, has been 
very considerable. In October, 1867, 3,000 acres of the Eancho el 
Valle de San Jose (at the lower end of it) were purchased for $70,000 ; 
two years previously the purchaser had declined the same property 
when offered for $13,500. 

In Livermore A^alley are located some of the largest grain fields in 
the State. In 1867 Sichard ThreKall cropped here 4, 000 acres, all em- 
braced in one field that averaged 24 bushels to the acre; some portions 
as much as 40 bushels averaging 62 lbs. per bushel. On the eastern 
side of this field, where the rays of the sun reached the grain in the 
early morning, while the dew remained upon it, it appeared almost 
solid enough to walk upon. The tall straw, nearly four feet high, 
was perfectly straight, and the compact growth of the ears rendered it 
impossible for the heavier to droop. When threshed, almost every 
grain in the immense field was of the same size, and color, pale and 
plump, as good California wheat always is. This grain farm gives 
employment to 60 men, 140 horses and mules ; uses three herders, five 
reaping machines, and two steam threshers. In the ploughing sea- 
son, eighty acres are ploughed, sowed, and harrowed, daily. 

In reference to the products of this valley, the yield above stated, 
although quite large, as compared with that usually obtained in 
other countries, is not quite up to the average in this locality, such 
large fields not being as well managed as smaller ones. On the Santa 
Eita ranch adjoining, 100 acres yielded 75 bushels per acre ; a field of 
60 acres, in the same valley, producing 80 bushels to the acre. 



150 THE NATOTlAi WTl.VLTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

Connectocl with the Amador vallej', are two smaller valleys — the 
Alamo and Tasajera, both equally fertile. The whole of these valleys, 
and a considerable tract lying adjacent, were included in the rancho 
once owned by Jose Amador, Avhose name it now bears. This individ- 
ual also gives name to Amador county, as will be explained when de- 
scribing that county. Amador, in 1850, sold this property to Ameri- 
cans for a trifle. In 18G6, one of his sons obtained a precarious living 
as a squatter among the hills that suiTOund the valley in which he was 
born, and which, during the past three years, under American enter- 
prise and energy, has produced upwards of a million dollars' worth of 
grain. 

Oakland, the most thrifty and important town in Alameda county, 
contains about 6,000 inhabitants. It is located in what was once a fine 
gi'ove of 1,500 acres of evergreen oaks — ^the Encinal de Temescal of the 
native Californians — directly opposite San Francisco, from which it is 
distant seven miles. In appearance, the California evergreen oak 
resembles a large apple-tree, so that the city, looking as if built in a 
huge orchard, bears a charming contrast to the treeless streets of San 
Francisco. , Scarcely any town in the State has made greater jDrogi-ess, 
during the past three years, than Oakland ; the value of its real estate 
and the number of its inhabitants having nearly doubled within that 
time. Although not laid out as a town tUl 1851, it contains many 
elegant and substantial public and private buildings, has well paved 
streets; is lighted with gas, and is in a fair way of being amply sup- 
plied in a short time with good water. The excellence of the climate, 
the beauty of the suiTounding scenery, and its proximity to San Fran- 
cisco, have induced many doing business in that city to build their 
homes in the groves of Oakland, or among the hills around it. The 
College of California and other public, as well as several private edu- 
cational institutions, are located here. The sons and daughters of the 
well-to-do citizens fi-om all parts of the State and from Nevada, as weU 
as many youth of both sexes from Mexico, the Sandwich islands, and 
several pupils from Japan, are educated here. 

The State asylum for the deaf and dumb, and blind, is situated 
near Oakland. This useful institution has been erected on a gently 
sloping eminence in the lower foothills of the Contra Costa mountains, 
commanding a splendid view of San Francisco bay and its surround- 
ings. The proportions of the building are 192 feet fi-ont by 148 feet in 
depth. It is three stories and a half high, being G2 feet to the gables 
and 145 to the top of the tower. Its exterior walls are built of a fine, 
bluish gi-anite, found in the vicinity; the interior work beiag of brick. 



COUNTIES OF CAIilFOKNIA. l6l' 

The style is wliat may be termed domestic gothic, with high, steep 
roof, large mullioiied and transomed windows, tower and buttress- 
angles of cut stone ; a handsome porch, of the same material, adorns 
the center of the main front, all the interior fittings being of the most 
improved style for such establishments. Everything that Christian 
charity, and a generous liberality could accomplish towards alleviating 
the aiHictions of its unfortunate inmates, has been attended to. The 
building and its furniture, when complete, will cost the State upwards 
of $175,000. 

Among other improvements in progress at Oakland, are the exten- 
- sion of the wharf, from the main land towards Terba Buena island, 
a distance of three fourths of a mile; and the erection of the new State 
Mining and Agricultural College. 

Brooklyn, a thriving town, comprising the localities known as Clin- 
ton and San Antonio, separated from Oakland by San Antonio creek, is 
rapidly increasing in importance as a manufacturing center. In addi- 
tion to the cotton factory located there, this is also the site of one of 
the largest shoe factories on the coast, as well as of a tannery, pot- 
tery, and last factory, which, collectively, give employment to a large 
number of men and women. 

Factories, like some kinds of animals and plants, appear to be gre- 
garious, thriving best when considerable numbers are congregated in 
the same locality. There is scarcely an instance, on this coast, where 
a factory of any kind has been successfully established, but that it has 
been soon after followed by one or more others at the same place. 
This curious fact should operate to encourage every community to aid 
in establishing these industrial institutions in their midst. 

The mill of the Oakland Cotton Manufacturing Company, is a two- 
story brick structure, 90 by 45 feet, with two wings 20 by 30 feet each. 
It contains 35 looms, and the necessary machinery for a first-class 
establishment. It is driven by a 45 horse-power steam-engine, and 
gives employment to about 100 persons, men and women, engaged in 
weaving or in making up into clothing and other articles, the tweeds, 
cassimers, and cotton-cloth produced. The first piece of cotton-cloth 
woven in the State, was made here in September, 1865. Since then, 
the works have been kept steadily in operation, turning out about fifty 
thousand yards per month, chiefly 4r-4 cotton for flour-bags, and sheet- 
ing for the Mexican market. In November, 1867, considerable im- 
provements, with an enlargement of the works, were commenced, for 
the purpose of manufacturing bagging material, of which upwards of 
$1,200,000 worth is annually imported and made into grain and flour 



152 THE natuhjU^ wealth of caiifornia. 

sacks, at various points in the State. A little of tlie cotton used at this 
mm, is of California growth. Details, touchiag its cultivation in this 
State, will be found elsewhere in these pages. 

Fruitvale, situated about one and a half miles south-east of Brook- 
lyn, in a charming little valley nestled among the foothUls of the 
Contra Costa mountains, is, as its name implies, a noted place for 
fruit, nearly all kinds of which grow there with little labor, and of rare 
excellence. A number of the business men of San Francisco have 
their homes in or about Fruitvale. 

Alameda, a town two miles south of Oakland, is situated upon a 
peninsula nearly two miles wide, called the Encinal de San Antonio, 
lying between the San Lorenzo and San Antonia creeks. It was laid 
off as a town in 1852, and is now a thrifty place, containing many good 
buildings and about 1, 200 inhabitants. 

San Leaudro, the county seat of Alameda county, a pleasant rural 
town, with several substantial public, and many handsome private 
buildings, is situated near the San Leandro . creek, about seven miles 
south of Oakland, on the edge of a fertile and well cultivated plain, the 
surrounding country being a succession of gardens and orchards, and 
grain-fields. It contains about five hundred inhabitants. 

Hayward's, six miles south-easterly from San Leandro, is a new 
and rapidly improving town. It owes much of its importance to the 
fact of its being connected with the bay of San Francisco, by the Ala- 
meda railroad, rendering it the shipping point for an extensive agricul- 
tural district. Here is stored, ready for transportation, the grain 
produced over an area of forty or fifty square miles. To accommodate 
this business, a number of large warehouses have been erected at this 
place. In 1865, a brick granary, 223 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 20 
feet high, was built here ; but, it being found inadequate for the 
increasing crops, another was added to it during the year 1867, 306 feet 
long, 60 feet in width, and 25 feet high. The two have been found 
insufficient to hold the products of the district at certain seasons when 
the railroad is unable to carry away all that offers for transportation. 

At this place is also located the chief cattle-market of the State — • 
the property of an incorporate company styled the "Butchers', Drov- 
ers', and Stocki'aisers' Association, " organized in January, 1866. In 
that year, 11,928 animals were sold here, valued at §182,600. In 1867, 
the number of animals sold exceeded 20,000, valued at §500,000. 

Alvarado, a thriving village of several hundred inhabitants, is 
located about ten mUes south from San Leandro, on the banks of Ala- 
meda creek. It stands about five miles from the bay of San Francisco, 



COXraTIES OP CAIIFOENIA. 153 

being in tlie district of swamped and overflowed land already men- 
tioned. The cliief occupation of the inhabitants of this place is the 
collection of salt, which forms in large quantities on the land over- 
flowed by the waters of the bay. There are eighteen companies en- 
gaged in this business, whose works extend nearly twelve miles along 
the eastern shore of the bay, and afford employment to some one hun- 
dred and fifty men. The quantity of salt annually collected exceeds 
10,000 tons, of the average value of $8 per ton. The whole of it is col- 
lected and purified by solar evaporation. The salt-water is retained in 
reservoirs, during high tides, and evaporated in shallow ponds ranging 
in size from twenty to five hundred acres* Some of these salt-ponds — 
formed mostly of earth — are located in swamps, which, though a few 
years since deemed absolutely worthless, are now valued at from four 
to ten dollars per acre ; and, since the demand for salt is likely to 
extend as the fisheries on this coast increase, the value of these lands 
will no doubt continue to appreciate. 

The old mission of San Jose is situated in the southern part of this 
county. It occupies a handsome valley among the lower foothills of 
the Contra Costa range, facing the bay. A hamlet has sprung up 
around the old mission buildings, which being in good repair, are still 
used as a Catholic church. The old gardens and orchards are among 
the best in the district, a pear-orchard, planted by the missionaries, 
producing a large crop of fruit annually.' About two miles from the 
old mission of San Jose, near the banks of the Agua Caliente (hot 
water) creek, in the midst of a beautiful grove of oak and other trees, 
are the Alameda warm springs. The fine climate and pleasant sur- 
roundings of the place, with its ready accessibility, render it one of the 
most popular resorts in the neighborhood of San Francisco. To the 
east. Mission peak, the culminating point of the Contra Costa moun- 
tains, attains a height of 2, 275 feet, presenting with its angular 
outlines, its grassy sides, and patches of shrubbery, a grand back- 
ground to the intervening landscape. From the peak, a fine view is 
obtained of San Jose, Oakland, and of the city and bay of San Fran- 
cisco. The hotel arrangements, and the attention guests receive here, 
are highly spoken of by visitors, who are numerous during the summer 
season. The waters are medicinal, containing sulphur, lime, magnesia, 
and iron, in various proportions. 

Alameda county contains large quarries of granite, limestone and 
sandstone, suitable for building purposes. The quariy from which the 
stone used in erecting the Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum was 
obtained, is situated on Pryal's ranch, about four miles from Oakland. 



154 THE NATURAL 'WEALTH OF CjVLIFOBOTA. 

The supply of this stone is exhaustless. A quarry of close-gramed, 
greyisli sandstone, has recently been opened about four miles from 
Hayward's. Nearly all the brown sandstone used in San Francisco, is 
obtained from quarries in this vicinity. 

In 18G4, Mr. A. D. Pryal, owner of a large ranch about four miles 
east from Oakland, discovered a vein of auriferous quartz in the Contra 
Costa hills, which cross his lands. Some of the specimens from this 
vein were rich in free gold, and the mine opened under the name of 
Temescal, paid well for a short time, but the dislocation of the strata, 
a little below the surface, rendered its further working iinprofitable. 

In 1862 and 1863, several small deposits of argentiferous galena, 
and other silver ores, were discovered in the Mocho and Valle Arroyos, 
among the spurs of the Monte Diablo and Contra Costa mountains. 

In 1856, extensive outcroppings of coal were found at Corral hol- 
low, in this county, about thirty miles east from Oakland, and several 
attempts since then have been made to develop a number of veins in 
this vicinity. Prior to 1860, about five hundred tons of coal were sent 
to market ; and in 1862, some shipments were also made, chiefly from 
the O'Brien mine. In 1867, a new company was organized, and the 
requisite machinery erected here, for the thorough development of 
what is supposed to be an extensive deposit of this mineral. 

Petroleum has been found at several points on the western slope of 
the Monte Diablo range. 

Alameda county contains seven grist-mills, capable of making 1,200 
barrels of flour daily; but, having no timber fit for lumber, it is with- 
out saw-mills — its chief Sources of wealth being its grain, fruit, and 
dairy products. 

CONTEA COSTA COUNTY. 

This county derives its name from the central" range of the coast- 
mountains, which cover a considerable portion of its surface. It is 
about forty miles in length, from east to west, and twenty miles wide, 
from north to south ; but its outlines are very ii'regular, being bounded 
on the north by San Pablo and Suisun bays, and the San Joaquin 
river ; on the east, by the western channel of that river ; on the soiith, 
by Alameda county, and on the west, by the bay of San Francisco. 
It contains upwards of 500,000 acres, about 150,000 of which are good 
arable land, nearly 100, 000 acres being under cultivation. This land 
lies chiefly in the numerous small valleys scattered through the Contra 
Costa and Monte Diablo ranges of mountains, which cross the county in 
a northerly and southerly direction. There are 100,000 acres of swamp 



COUNTIES OF CAirFORNIA. 155 

and overflovred lands in tliis county, situated about the margins of 
Suisiin bay and along the banks of the San Joaquin river, much of it 
being reclaimable. Portions of it, brought under cultivation, have 
been found to produce good crops of grain, fruit, and vegetables, with- 
out irrigation. There is a sweep of this tule land in the north-east 
corner of the county, of upwards of 75,000 acres subject to overflow 
during wet seasons, which, if protected by a levee, would become one 
of the most valuable agricultural sections of the county. Mountains 
and hills cover about 250,000 acres, including Monte Diablo, which 
contains the most important coal-mines in the State. 

San Eamon, the finest valley in the county, is a continuation of 
Amador valley, described in the topography of Alameda county. It is 
equally fertile throughout, and extends quite across the county under 
different names ; the upper portion extending a distance of ten miles, 
where it unites with the Amador valley, is called San Kamon valley, 
and the lower j)ortion, through which Pacheco creek rims, is called 
Pacheco valley. On the east side of this lower valley, and opening into 
it, is the Diablo valley, extending to the base of Monte Diablo. On the 
west is Taylor valley, through which passes the road from Oakland to 
Martinez. There are numerous smaller valleys on both sides of these 
larger ones, all connected by wagon roads, and many of them fertile 
and well cultivated. The average crops, for several years past, in most 
of these valleys, have been thirty bushels of wheat, or fifty bushels of 
barley to the acre. 

The Hambre, or Hungry valley, at the mouth of which the town of 
Martinez, the county seat, is located, is separated from the main valley 
system by a range of low hills — ^a portion of the Monte Diablo range — 
which afford excellent pasturage for cattle and sheep. The county, in 
1867, contained 27,000 sheep, 11,000 cattle, and 8,000 horses. 

The subordinate group of elevations, which lies to the west of Mar- 
tinez, is known as the Contra Costa hills, which extend through this 
and the adjoining counties of Alameda and Santa Cruz, being separated 
from the main Monte Diablo range by a chain of beautiful valleys 
nearly sixty miles in length. 

The principal streams in this county are the San Pablo and San 
Eamon creeks, the former rising in the Contra Costa hills and emptying 
into San Pablo bay, the latter rising in the Monte Diablo range, near 
Livermore's pass, and emptying into Suisun bay, about five miles south- 
east from Martinez. When this creek reaches the tules it becomes a 
tide water stream, navigable at high tide for schooners drawing six 
feet of water. The town of Pacheco was founded, near the head of 



156 THE NATURAL WEALTH OP CALtFOKNIA. 

navigation, in 1858, and has since become the most important shipping 
port and business centre in the county. The place contains large 
stores, granaries, churches and schools, and about six hundred iuhabit- 
tants, who do a thriving business with the numerous rural communi- 
ties scattered throughout the adjoining valleys ; 700, 000 bushels of 
wheat, besides other products, were shipped from this place in 1867. 

The population of this county and the value of property in it, 
have greatly increased since 1860, in consequence of the settlement 
of land titles — nearly the entire county having been previously 
claimed by Mexican gi'ant holders — a number of diiferent parties some- 
times advancing claims to the same tract of land. This conflict of 
ownership prevented settlers, for many years, making improvements ; 
but since the adjustment of these land questions, the population and 
wealth of the county have increased rapidly. In 1860 it contained 
5, 328 inhabitants, and the value of all the property in it was assessed 
at $600,000. At the close of 1867, it contained about 10,000 inhabit- 
ants, nearly three thousand of whom were children under fifteen years 
of age — ^less than two hundred Mexicans and Spaniards; and the value 
of its real and personal proj)erty exceeded §4,000,000. 

On the northwestern corner of this county, at the mouth of San 
Pablo creek, is the original San Pablo bay, the name of which has 
since been applied to the great central division of the bay of San Fran- 
cisco, which was formerly called the bay of Sonoma. The level lands 
in this section of the county produce heavy crops of grain and fruit. 

Contra Costa county at present contains but little timber, except 
oak. At one time there was a fine forest of redwood in the mountains, 
a few miles east of the bay of San Francisco, but its proximity to the 
city caused its early conversion into lumber, much also being split into 
rails for fencing purposes. At present, only a few trees in spots difii- 
cult of access, are left standing. The redwood being tenacious of life, 
it is not an easy matter to kill or eradicate its roots, wherefore, there is 
a possibility of this forest renewing itself in process of time, if pro- 
tected from the wood cutter's depredations. On the hills that skirt the 
base of Monte Diablo grow a few scattered pines of an inferior species, 
worth but little for lumber. At present there is not a saw mill in the 
county — a fact that sufficiently indicates how completely it has been 
stripped of what valuable timber it once may have contained. 

The climate of this county, influenced by the position and height 
of its mountains, is subject to great variations. Monte Diablo, a prom- 
inent landmark in this part of the State, 3,381 feet high, is the princi- 
pal agent in producing these atmospheric changes. This moi;ntain is 



COTOfTIES OP CALIFOENIA. 157 

supposed to have been at one time a volcano, a presumption strengtli- 
ened by the double cone forming its summit when viewed from the east, 
caused by the breaking away of the rim of its crater on that side. 
It is situated in the northern part of the county, and has a length of 
eight or ten by a breadth of five or six miles. It is somewhat crescent- 
shaped, the concavity opening to the northeast, and forms a barrier to 
the winds coming from both the interior and the sea, which sometimes 
blow with great violence about its base, while the atmosphere higher 
up its sides is but little distvirbed and even quite calm at its summit. 
It is a grand and singular sight to see from its top, where all is clear 
and tranquil, the clouds rolling in stormy commotion far below. These 
atmospheric phenomena are most strikingly manifested after mid-day, 
in the fall of the year. For several hours in the afternoon, the dry and 
heated air from the interior sweeps up the mountain with a strong cur- 
rent. About three o'clock the moist air from the ocean begins to reach 
it, and the two currents meeting, form fleecy clouds which hang around 
its base and fill its lower valleys, condensing, as the night comes on, 
into heavy and refreshing dews. 

The climate in the northwestern portion of this county is sometimes 
quite cool, and frosts are frequent, but, where sheltered, fruits of all 
descriptions grow luxuriantly. Dr. John Strentzel, a Pole, one of the 
pioneer settlers in the county, has a fine orchard of about forty acres in 
the Canada de Hambre, two miles from the town of Martinez, in which 
oranges are grown in the open air. 

Juan B. Alvarado, who was governor of California from 1836 to 
1842, when it was Mexican territory, cultivated an orchard in this 
vicinity, the apples and pears from which, for several years after Cali- 
fornia became a State, produced him a larger revenue than did the 
office of governor. 

Dr. John Marsh, was one of the earliest American settlers in this 
county, and, in 1840, purchased a tract of land now known as the New 
York ranch, located about thirty miles from Martinez. The history of 
this eccentric man is replete with interest. Educated a physician, 
and possessed of ample means, on the death of his wife he left his early 
home and only child in the State of Wisconsin, and coming to California, 
took up his residence in a caiiada at the base of Monte Diablo, now 
known as Marsh's caiion. Here, living in rude independence, after the 
manner of the country, he became the owner of immense herds of 
cattle, which, with his landed possessions, made him rich under the 
new order of things inaugurated by the discovery of gold in Califor- 
nia. In the meantime, his son, who had grown up to manhood, having 



158 THE NATTJEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEOTA. 

heard from retnrQed Californians that there "was a Dr. Marsh living in 
that country, and suspecting that it might be his father, left his home 
at Petersburg, Illinois, and came out to this State, arriving at San 
Francisco in March, 1856. Having ascertained the residence of the 
person whom he was in search of, he at once proceeded to the place and 
foxmd that he was indeed his long absent parent, with whom he took up 
his abode, remaining with him until the time of his death, which 
occurred in the autumn of the same year. Dr. Marsh, while on his way 
to San Francisco, was waylaid and murdered, it being supposed that he 
had a large sum of money on his person. The murderer, after escaping 
for more than ten years, was finally apprehended and convicted of the 
crime. 

This county was not generally settled until 1850, there not being a 
town in it the origin of which dates prior to the discovery of gold, in 
1848. One of the first American families settling within its borders 
was that of Elam Bro-mi, who built a house in Taylor vaUey, in 1847, 
near the spot where he now resides. 

Martinez, the county seat, is situated in a valley on the south shore 
of the straits of Carquinez, opposite the town of Benicia. The straits 
at this point are about three miles wide and eight long, lying between 
gently-swelling hills, cultivated to their summits. The town contains 
several fine public and private buildings, with a niimber of churches, 
many of the dwellings being surrounded by orchards and gardens. 
It is the center of a considerable trade, has good wharves for the ship- 
ment of produce, and is connected with Benicia by a steamboat ferry. 
The coal mines in this county, to the development of which it owes 
much of its present prosperity, are located about six miles south from 
the San Joaqtiin river. A nearly level plain extends from the river 
(where there is an average depth of thirty feet of water,) to the foot- 
hills of the mountains, and within a mile of the Black Diamond com- 
pany's tunnels, at Nortonville. These tunnels enter on the northeast 
side of the mountain, and foUow a number of seams to the west. Only 
two of these seams are worked at present — the Black Diamond and 
Clark — the former averaging four feet, and the latter about three feet 
in thickness. Both lie at an angle of thirty degrees, and dip nearly 
north. These mines, although, as above explained, within five miles of 
navigable water, are located among the peaks and deep canons of such 
a rugged country that the difficiilties and expense attending the trans- 
portation of so bulky an article as coal impeded their development 
until February, 1866, when the Pittsburg railroad was completed. In 
the construction of this road, only five and a haK miles in length, from 



COUNTIES OP CALIFOKNIA. 159 

tlie mines to tlie wharf at Pittsburg LandiBg, many obstacles -were 
encountered. To the plain, from the mines, a distance of a mile and a 
half, the road has the unusual gradient of two hundred and seventy- 
four feet to a mile, that of the balance being from forty to one hundred 
and sixty feet to the mile. The rugged character of the country may 
be inferred from the fact that to complete the first mile and a half of 
this road eight large trestle bridges had to be built, the largest being 
three hundred and four feet long by sixty feet high. A tunnel, three 
hundred feet in length, was required to be cut through a steep rocky 
ridge — a number of deep cuts were excavated, and heavy culverts con- 
structed. When the road was completed, it was found necessary to 
have locomotives of a peculiar pattern, to overcome the difficulties of 
ascending and descending such steep grades. Accordingly, a style of 
engine was invented and made at San Francisco, weighing seventeen 
tons, and supplied with three pairs of thirty-six inch driving wheels, 
and complex, powerful brakes. The friction of these locomotives, when 
descending the incline in front of a train of loaded cars is, of course, 
great, but, thus far, no serious accident has occurred. This road, 
which cost $145,000, has a capacity to transport over it three thousand 
tons of coal daily. The Pittsburg, Union and Eureka companies all 
send their coal over it. 

The Black Diamond company have built a railroad which terminates 
at New York, a town six miles west of Pittsburg landing. The arrange- 
ments made by this company to convey their coal from the mine to the 
vessels at the wharf afford another good illustration of engineering 
skill — ^the mouth of the main adit of the mine being nearly five hun- 
dred feet above the level of the plain. To avoid the steep gxade that 
would be necessary were a railroad employed, a massive incline has 
been constructed, nearly nine hundred feet in length, at an angle of 
fifteen degrees, which connects with the raih'oad at the lower end. By 
means of a thick wire rope passing over an iron cylinder, nine feet in 
diameter, the loaded cars descending pull up the empty ones. This 
road, since first built, has undergone material alterations, involving a 
heavy outlay of money. The arrangements at the wharves of both 
roads are similar, and vessels of five hundred tons burthen are loaded 
in a few hours by means of shutes passing from the cars. These 
mines give employment to upwards of one thousand men. 

Prior to the construction of the railroads mentioned, Antioch, a 
small town on the San Joaqiiin river, was the shipping point of all the 
coal mines. Owing to its many natural advantages, it continues to 
grow, notwithstanding the loss of that trade. At this place are located 



ICO THE NATITRAL WEjiLTH OF CALIFO^.^^A. 

the California copper-smelting works, not at present m operation ; also 
an extensive pottery, at which superior earthenware, fire-brick, and 
crucibles, are made from clay obtained from a thick seam found accom- 
jDanying the coal in the Black Diamond mine. The wharves here are 
very substanstially constructed. The coal from the Teutonia and Cen- 
tral mines is hauled to this place by teams for shipment. Clay used 
by the Golden State Pottery is obtained from Marsh's ranch, fourteen 
miles distant. This establishment has three kilns, which are kept in 
constant use. Arrangements are in progi'ess for making white stone- 
ware. Large quantities of common brick are also made here for the 
San Francisco market, the soil being well suited to their manufacture. 
The broad plain lying between the river and the mountains, on which 
grow fair crops of the cereals, is rapidly settling up, nearly one hun- 
dred families having located upon it in 1867. Much of it, formerly 
iised only for pasturage, is now under cultivation. The Stockton 
steamers make regular landings at Antioch, whence there are numerous 
good roads communicating with the back country. 

Clayton, the largest town created by the coal-mining interest, stands 
at the head of Diablo valley, about eight miles from Pacheco. It occu- 
pies a romantic site, being on a plateau in the midst of wide-spreading 
oaks, commanding a good view of the adjacent valley and the bay, with 
rugged mountains in the distance. Its origin dates only from 1862, 
and, although so recently founded, there are many fine orchards, vine- 
yards and gardens in the vicinity. It contains about nine hundred 
inhabitants, and, considering its age, is well built up. The larger 
portion of the population find employment in and about the coal-mines 
near by. There are several other small towns and villages in this 
county, the most of them of too little importance to require special 
notice. 

The soil in the valleys about Monte Diablo, consists of a fine loam, 
formed by the disintegration of the calcareous and volcanic rocks, and is 
well siaited to the raising of vines — a business extensively carried on 
in many of them. Mr. Clayton, after whom the town is named, has a 
vineyard here of 30 acres, containing 30,000 vines, which, though 
vigorous and prolific, have never been irrigated. He sends his grapes 
to San Francisco for a market, realizing a greater profit man in making 
them into wine. There are other large vineyards, with several fine 
orchards bearing various kinds of fruit, elsewhere in the valley, 
the aggi-egate number of vines it contains being estimated at 
100,000, and the fruit-trees at 30,000. Wiiiie much of the land in this 



COUNTIES OF CjU^IFOENLV. 161 

valley is held at laigh prices, a good deal of fair quality can be bought 
at prices ranging from $15 to $25 per acre. 

Silver-bearing ores have been found at various places about Monte 
Diablo. Sixty pounds of ore, taken from a claim known as the Open 
Sesame, in 1863, yielded, by working process, at the rate of $48 33 
per ton in gold, and $243 per ton in silver ; whUe the San Pedro ledge 
yielded ore that assayed at the rate of $40 per ton. The broken strati- 
fication in this district, however, has thus far rendered all attempts at 
working these claims abortive. 

During 1862, and the following two years, some fifty cupriferous 
deposits were partially explored in the vicinity of Monte Diablo ; and, 
although a considerable quantity of ore was obtained from them, it was 
of too low a grade, and the seams were too much broken up, to warrant 
a continiiance of operations. 

In 1862, large deposits of ochreous earths were discovered near 
Martinez, consisting of six well defined strata, varying from three to 
twenty feet in thickness. The colors of this material are red, green, 
yellow and blue, with every conceivable tint formed by their blending, 
the entire number of colors produced consisting of eighty varieties, 
running from pale blue to a bright scarlet. The terre sienna, French 
yellow, and Venetian red, were pronounced very good by the painters 
who used them. Expensive works were put up for grinding and pre- 
paring this substance for market, but the enterprise failing through 
the limited demand and cheap price of the imported article to prove 
remunerative, was abandoned soon after. 

Argillous magnesian limestone, similar to that used in making the 
dry hydraulic cement at Benicia, exists near Martinez. Good potters' 
clay is abundant near Lafayette, and is extensively used by the pottery 
works at San Antonio, Alameda county. 

Small deposits of petroleum have been observed, at various pointS). 
in this county. Several years since, an oil-boring operation was com- 
menced and carried on for some time, at a point about three miles 
south-east from the town of San Pablo. This was the first efi'ort of the 
kind made in California ; and, though conducted with a due degree of 
skill and energy, it failed of success. Several attempts to procure 
mineral oil in quantities have been made elsewhere in the county, 
either by sink^-^ ^ shafts or boring, but as yet with scarcely any better 
results than attended this pioneer effort. At the present time, a party 
is boring for oil in Marsh's canon, and, as it is. said, with prospects not 
altogether discouraging. 

11 



162 THE NATTJE-Uj wealth of CULrFOEXliV. 



JilAEIN COUNTY. 

Marin county comprises the peninsula lying between San Pablo bay 
and the ocean, its extreme southern portion, Point Bonita, forming the 
outer headland to the entrance of the Golden Gate. Much of the 
county is covered with hills and mountains, through which are scat- 
tered numerous narrow, but fertile valleys. Tamalpais, the culminating 
peak in a rugged chain of mountains traversing the county from north- 
west to southeast, near the sea, has an altitude of 2,600 feet ; there be- 
ing several other peaks in this range of almost equal height. Much of 
the land, both in the valleys and upon the hills throughout the north- 
ern and central portions of the county, prodxTces an abundant pastur- 
age, upon which immense herds of milch cows are fed ; more butter 
being made here than in any other county in the State — the annual 
product approximating 1,500,000 pounds. Redwood and pine grow on 
the mountains, and oak in many of the valleys and on the lower hiUs. 
From the former, two steam saw-mills located in the northern part of the 
county, manufacture considerable quantities of lumber. The Pacific 
Powder Mill, and the Pioneer Paper MUl, are situated on Tokeluma 
or Daniel's creek, which, heading in the Tamalpais range, runs north- 
west, emptying into the head of Tomales bay. The water of this 
creek, owing to its infiltration through a hard granitic rock rendering 
it exceedingly pure, is especially adapted to the manufacture of paper. 
Tomales bay, extending inland sixteen miles in a southeasterly direc- 
tion, varies in width from two to three miles. It occupies the largest 
valley in a series lying between a number of parallel ridges that 
occupy this section of the county. Between Tomales and Bolinas bay 
lies a rich valley eight miles in extent. The town of Tomales, situated 
near the entrance of the bay, is an active and growing place, much of 
the produce of the adjacent country being shipped here for San Fran- 
cisco. It contains a population of six or seven hundred, and occupies 
a handsome site on a level bench extending back from the bay. Ole- 
ma, at the head of Tomales bay, fifteen miles northwest of San Rafael, 
is another thrifty town, enjoying the trade of a large dairy and agricul- 
tural district, which never fails to produce heavy crops of potatoes and 
grain, owing to the current of moist air from the ocean, which, passing 
through the depression that here exists between the mountains, greatly 
aids the growth of vegetation. Here the grass, when completely dried 
up elsewhere, is found to be green and succulent. 

Punta de los Eeyes (King's point) forms the extremity of a high 



COUNTIES OP CAIIFOBNIA. . 163 

rocky promontory, extending into the sea several miles in a soutliwest 
direction, separating it from Drake's bay. 

This county countains about 600 square miles — ^nearly 400,000 
acres, 175,000 of which are enclosed ; only about 25,000 acres are 
under cultivation ; the greater portion of the arable land being used 
for pasturage. Some j&ve or sis thousand acres of the mountain lands 
are covered with timber capable of being made into lumber, the swamp 
and overflowed land in the county consisting of twelve thousand acres 
on the margin of San Pablo bay. 

Messrs. Howard & Shafter have 75,000 acres of land enclosed in this 
county, upon which are grazed 3,500 cows. These are divided into 
seventeen dairies, the aggregate product of which is 700,000 pounds of 
butter annually. Allen & Son, of Green valley, have a herd of 350 
milch cows, all of choice breeds. Stock here is never housed, or fed 
with anything more than is afforded by the native pasturage. The 
product of butter averages about one pound daily to the animal, or 
two hundred pounds for the season. This butter, if sold for no more 
than twenty-five cents per pound — considerably less than is actually 
realized — -pays, in the course of two years, for cost of cows, attendance, 
and interest on capital, leaving the natural increase of stock, skim- 
milk and cheese, for clear profit. Butter-making, where circumstances 
favor, has always been found a lucrative pursuit in California, this 
article never failing to find a ready market and to command a good 
price ; while the localities favorable for carrying on the business on a 
large scale, are by no means numerous ; an abundance of nutritious 
feed, a cool climate, and at least a fair supply of water, not often being 
found in conjunction. In Marin county, these advantages being en- 
joyed to an unusual extent, dairymen have confined their operations 
almost exclusively to this branch of the business, though the lack of 
facilities for sending their milk to the San Francisco market may have 
contributed towards the conversion of so large a proportion of it into 
butter and cheese, there being over half a million pounds of the latter 
made annually. It is estimated that there are upwards of one hundred 
dairies in this county, many of them of large size. They give employ- 
ment to a good many men, the usual allotment being about twenty 
cows to one hand. Marin, in 1860, contained 3,334 inhabitants, the 
present number being estimated at something over 5,000. 

This county derives its name from Marin, a famous chief of the 
Lacatuit Indians, who originally occupied this part of the country, and 
who, aided by his people, after having vanquished the Spaniards in 
several skirmishes that took place between the years 1815 and 1824, 



idi THE NAT1IR.VL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

was finally caijtured by Lis enemies. Making Lis escape, Mariu took 
shelter on a little island in the bay of San Francisco, and which, being 
aftei-wards called after him, communicated its name to the mainland 
adjacent. This chief having fallen into the hands of his foes a second 
time, barely escaped being put to death, thi-ough the interference of 
the priests at the mission San Kafael, who subsequently enjoyed the 
satisfaction of seeing him converted to the true faith. He died at the 
mission which had been the sceno of his rescue and conversion, in the 
year 1834. 

San Eafael, the county seat, occupies a handsome site, about two 
miles west of San Pablo bay, and fifteen in a northerly direction from 
San Francisco. Its sheltered position, being screened from the fogs 
and ocean-winds by the Tamalpais range, renders it one of the most 
attractive spots in the ■sdcinity of San Francisco, many of whose busi- 
ness men and wealthy citizens have erected their dwellings in the 
neighborhood of the town, which abounds with beautiful and eligible 
sites for the purpose. Within the past few years, a large number of 
residences have been built there by this class, and other improvements 
made, tending to enhance the value of property and add to the attrac- 
tions of the place. 

Although nearly the whole of this county was originally covered 
with Mexican grants, and there was scarcely an American settler within 
its limits prior to 1850, nearly the whole of it is now owned by the 
latter race, the most of its former proprietors having, with their pos- 
sessions, passed away. 

The Pioneer Paper MiU, erected in 1856, is situated about four 
miles from Olema, on the road leading to San Eafael. The buildings 
are spacious and substantial. The motive power used consists of both 
steam and water, and the works, which employ about forty hands, are 
run night and day. During the year 1867 there were made at this 
establishment 384 reams of colored, 3,500 reams of news and book, 
and 9,250 reams of Manila and wrapping paper, the whole valued at 
$64,800. The following embrace items of the principal material con- 
sumed in the manafacture of this paper : 300 tons of rags and old rope, 
gathered chiefly in San Francisco; 250 baiTels of lime, made in the 
vicinity; 2,000 pounds sulphuric and muriatic acid, made at the San 
Francisco Chemical Works. 

The Pacific Powder Mill, located about three miles east of the 
Paper MiU, was completed in 1866, at a cost of S63,000. During the 
year 1867 there were manufactured here about 30,000 kegs of blasting 
powder, and over 2,000 pr.cliages of sporting powder. The buildings 



COTINTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 165 

are distributed qver an area of several Imndred acres, for greater secu- 
rity against explosions. Both stear^ and water power are used in pre- 
paring tlie material and running the machinery. An explosion occurred 
here in November, 1867, causing the death of three workmen, and 
doing considerable injury to the works. The latter, however, were soon 
after repaired, and are again in operation. 

The State Prison is located in this county, on Point San Quentin, 
twelve miles north of the city of San Francisco. The buildings, con- 
structed of brick, and having a capacity for the retention of seven hun- 
dred convicts, the number now imprisoned there, are situated on a tract 
of land owned by the State, eight acres of which are walled in, the 
balance being mostly devoted to the purposes of brick making, which 
business has been carried on extensively by convict labor. The greater 
portion of the prisoners, however, are employed as coopers, tailors, 
cabinet makers, shoemakers, saddlers, etc., being hired out by the 
State to contractors, who pay fifty cents per day for their labor. 

As yet, no valuable deposits of minerals have been found in this 
county, though it abounds in granite, limestone and other useful 
building stone, and a number of quarries have been opened within its 
limits. 

SONOMA COUNTY. 

Sonoma county is bounded on the north by Mendocino and Lake 
coxmties, on the east by Lake and Napa, and on the south, southwest, 
and west by Marin county and the ocean. It is about fifty miles in 
length with an average width of twenty-five miles, comprising an area of 
about 850,000 acres, of which nearly 300,000 are inclosed, and 200,000 
under cultivation. 

The chief topographical features of this county are its four magnifi- 
cent valleys, Petaluma, Sonoma, Santa Eosa and Russian river, through 
which flow considerable streams bearing their respective names. The 
two former are in the southern part of the county, separated by'low 
mountain ridges. Crossing the northwestern and central portions of 
the county is the more lengthy but narrow valley of the Russian river. 
Petaluma and Sonoma creeks flow southeasterly, and empty into San 
Pablo bay. They are navigable for smaU craft as high up as the tide 
reaches — a distance of about fifteen miles. Eussian river, although a 
large stream, is not navigable, owing to bars and rapids. 

The northern j)art of the county is mountainous, being traversed by 
spurs from the Coast Range, which in some places rise to a height of 
two or three thousand feet. Pine mountain, in the northwestern part 



1C3 THE NATIT..\X WEALTU OF C.VLIFOr,:X\. 

of the county, readies an elevation of 3, 500 feet — Suljjhur Peak, near 
the Geysers, in the north-eastern part, being 3, 471 feet high. Many of 
the mountains, and even some of the lower hiUs, are covered with red- 
wood — ^pitch, or yellow pine, (jnnus joonderosa,) sugar -pine (pinus Lam- 
heriiana,) spruce, or red fir, (abies Douglasii,) and California nutmeg, 
[Torreya Californica,) being found upon the higher ranges. Portions of 
the valleys and hiUs are covered with a scattered growth of oak, ma- 
droita, and other scrubby trees — sycamore and small willow being 
found along the water courses. There are thirteen saw mills in differ- 
ent parts of the county, making lumber chiefly for local consumption, 
though considerable quantities are exported from Bodega, Fort Eoss, 
Timber Cove and other points in the northern section of the county. 
The amount of lumber manufactured in Sonoma annually is estimated 
at 12,000,000 feet. The most of the produce exported from the south- 
ern end of the county is sent from Petaluma, between which place and 
San Francisco three lines of steamers and a large number of small sail- 
ing vessels ply constantly. 

Petaluma is situated on a creek of the same name, and about a mile 
above the head of navigation, a railroad haAang been constructed con- 
necting the town with the landing. It lies about forty-five miles north- 
west of San Francisco, and is a growing place, the population having 
increased from 2,500 to over 4,000, within the last four years. It now 
contains seven churches, a college and a number of schoolhouses, a 
planing-miU, a sash and door factory, a soap and a match factory, ivith 
a ship-yard whereat vessels of as high as ninety tons' burden are built. 
The name of the town signifies, in the Indian tongue from which it is 
derived, "Duck hiU," the locality having been famous as a resort for 
wild ducks prior to its settlement by the whites. A raih'oad, extending 
from some point on San Pablo bay to Healdsburg, on Russian river, 
having become an xu'gent necessity, the inhabitants of the county are 
Luaking strenuous efibrts to secure its construction, which there is good 
reason to believe mil be effected at an early day, either by building a 
line direct from Petaluma to Healdsburg, or continuing the Napa and 
Calistoga road, now nearly finished, to that place. Once built to 
Healdsburg, there is little doubt but a railroad would be prolonged iip 
the Eussian river valley, until by gi-adual stages it might reach the 
interior of Mendocino county, if not ultimately the head waters of Eel 
river, following down the same to some point on Humboldt bay, and 
thus become the means of opening an extensive and valuable, but at 
present almost inaccessible region to trade and settlement. 



COUNTIES OF GALIFOKnA. 167 

Sonoma county enjoys an even and agreeable climate, rarely suf- 
fering from the strong winds that prevail during the summer at San 
Francisco, while its proximity to the ocean moderates the fierce heat of 
the interior, insuring a mild and agxeeable temperature throughout the 
year. The moisture imparted by the sea-air to the soil, in the valleys 
a rich alluvion, and on the uplands a yeUow loam, tends to keep vege- 
tation green, thereby insuring abundant pasturage and almost uni- 
formly good crops in all parts of the county. In the valley of Eussian 
river, good crops of Indian corn can be grown without irrigation, this 
being one of the few localities in the State where this cereal can be 
raised with facility. The number of acres of this grain planted in the 
county, in the year 1867, is estimated at 5,000, yielding 150,000 bush- 
els. The country in the vicinity of Bodega is particularly well adapted 
to the culture of the potato, of which there were 4,000 acres planted in 
1867, producing 150,000 bushels. 

The name of this county is of Indian origin, signifying, in that lan- 
guage, the "valley of the moon," a term peculiarly appropriate, since 
a more beautifid spot than the great Sonoma valley, seen on a moon- 
light night, can scarcely be conceived of. This was also the name of a 
notable chief of the Chocuyen tribe, who inhabited this valley in the 
days of the missionaries. 

Santa Eosa, the county seat, situated in a vaUey of the same name, 
about sixteen miles north from Petaluma, occupies a handsome site on 
the Santa Eosa creek, a small stream which, running west, falls into 
Eussian river. The toAvn is surrounded with oak and other forest- 
trees, and has a well fenced plaza filled with trees, shrubs and flowers. 
Around this central square, the most of the stores, hotels, and other 
business places, are located. The first settlement upon this spot was 
made in 1852. The court-house is a fine building, besides which the 
town contains several churches and school-houses, and a number of 
elegant private residences. In 1860, Santa Eosa had a population of 
700, which seven years later had increased to 1, 800. The valley in 
which it is situated is about ten miles long, and six wide. It is under 
a high state of cultivation, and is surrounded by scenery of surpassing 
beauty, the Cascade mountains, a low but picturesque range, bounding 
it on the west, and a much more lofty and rugged chain on the east ; 
the bold peak of Mount St. Helena, sixteen miles distant to the north- 
east, lifting itself to a height of 4,343 feet. 

Healdsburg, another prosperous town, is located in the Eussian river 
valley, at a point where it deflects to the southwest, and near the con- 
fluence of that stream, with Knight's creek, having its source in Mount 



168 THE NATURAL ■mSALTII OF CALrFOE:rL\.. 

St. Helena, about tirenty miles distant to tlie east. The tovrn derives 
its name from Harmon Heald, vi^ho, in 18-16, established a trading-post 
in the Ticinity, for supplying the hunters and trapjjers in the ncigh- 
boi'ing mountains. It stands on a broad, fertile plain, having an alti- 
tude of one hundred and seventy-five feet above the waters of San 
Francisco bay, from which it is distant nearly fifty miles, being about 
forty miles north of Petaluma. It is the natural trade-center of a lai-ge 
agricultural region, embracing the several valleys of Russian river, 
reaching fifty or sixty miles to the north — Knight's creek, Dry creeli, 
Santa Rosa, and several smaller valleys, through all of which run good 
roads converging to this place. The site of the town is no less beau- 
tiful than eligible, being surrounded by scattered groves of old oaks, 
and other trees of native growth, with a panorama of picturesque' moun- 
tains in the distance. In 1867, it contained 1,500 inhabitants, of whom 
410 were children under fiifteen years of age. Three years before, the 
population numbered but 600, of whom 500 were adults. The excel- 
lence and cheapness of the land, together with security of title, and 
the prospect of early railroad communication with the bay of San 
Pablo, have contributed to greatly encourage settlement in this part 
of the county. The majority of the inhabitants came originally from 
the southern and southwestern states — a circumstance indicated not 
more by the peculiarities of their manners than the style of their 
houses, most of which have huge chimneys built outside, after the 
custom in their early homes. 

In 1841, eight square leagues of the valley, adjacent to Healdsburg, 
were granted by the Mexican government to an American family by 
the name of Fitch, some of whom continue to reside in the vicinity, 
though nearly all of this extensive grant has now passed from their 
possession. About two miles east of the town, stands an isolated peak 
some five hundred feet high, known as Fitch's mountain, being nearly 
the only reminder left of this pioneer family. The view from the top 
of this mountain is extremely fine, from whence may be seen Mount 
St. Helena to the east, the numerous ranges of Mendocino lying north, 
and the Pacific ocean on the west — the whole comprising a landscape 
aboimding with striking features and diversified scenery. 

The city of Sonoma is the oldest settlement in this county, the mis- 
sion of San Francisco de Solano having been founded here in 1820. 
The old buildings first erected stUl remain, though latterly converted 
into a church supplied with pews, cushions, carpets, gaslight, and all 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 169 

tlie modern improvements in ecclesiastical decoration. In its capa- 
cious auditorium, wliicli once resounded with the uncouth jargon of 
half-clad savages, is now heard the melodious voices of a -well trained 
choir, mingling with the strains of instrumental music. The town is 
situated a short distance east of the creek that runs through the center 
of the valley. It is distant about twenty miles southeast of Santa 
Eosa, and forty miles northerly of San Francisco. Some of the original 
houses built here are large and, though made of adobe, are two stories 
high. They surround the usual courtyard, and are adorned with port- 
icos and corridors after the Venetian style, imparting to them a com- 
manding appearance — this having been the residence of the elite of the 
native Californians. Many of them were neatly painted, and sur- 
rounded with gardens, orchards, and walnut-trees. The residence of 
Gen. M. G. Vallejo — a spacious building, in which so many, both foreign 
and native, once enjoyed his hospitality — ^was demolished in 1866, and 
an elegant hotel erected on the spot; the former proprietor having 
parted with this, as well as with nearly all the residue of his property 
in the county. The towa of Sonoma, which in 1864 contained only 
five hundred inhabitants, now numbers over one thousand. The valley 
of Sonoma, about sis miles wide and twenty long, is one of the most 
beautiful, as well as fruitful and highly cultivated, in the State, it 
being covered throughout nearly its whole extent, and, in many places, 
even to the stimmits of the adjacent hills, with gi'assy pastures, grain- 
fields, orchards, vineyards, and gardens. The soil and general appear- 
ance of the valley, bear a striking resemblance to the vine-districts of 
Johannesberg, Hockheimer, Stienberger, and other famous wine- 
producing localities in the vicinity of Bingen on the Ehine ; and there 
is no doubt but the white wines of this county will, in a few years, 
when their good qualities come to be more fully known, attain to as 
great a popularity in Europe as those of the Bhenish provinces. The 
yield of grapes to the vine, and also of juice, is much greater here 
than in France, Italy, or Germany, many of the vineyards in Sonoma 
yielding about 1,000 gallons to the acre, while in France the yield 
is not over 200 ; in Germany, 250 ; and in Italy, 400 gallons to the 
acre. 

Appended is a list of most of the principal vineyards in this courity, 
with the number of vines and acres planted in grapes at the close of the 
year 1867 : 



170 



THE NATUHAL ■n^EALTH OF CALIFOPXIA. 



VINEYAIIDS IN SONOMi. VALLEX. 

Ill the vicinity of the Tov:n. 

ProprietoTB. Acres. ViacB. 

Bnena Vista Vinicultnral Society 375 380,350 

Estate of General C. H. S. 'SViiliams 120 84,000 

Dresei & GenOlach 120 85,000 

J. Lutgens 30 2i,000 

Haraszthy Brothers 58 70,000 

Major Snyder 30 21,000 

General M. G. VaUejo 50 35,000 

Mrs. Col. Haraszthy. 140 300,000 

Mr. Maxwell ' 35 25,000 

Colonel :Walton 25 18,000 

On the west sirje of the Valley. 

Nicolas Carriger 180 150,000 

0. W. Craig 75 60,000 

Thos. J. Poulterer 20 15,000 

W. MoP. HiU 35 30,000 

George Watriss 25 20,000 

Jackson Templo 50 60,000 

Lamott &Co 30 25,000 

Adler & Co 30 25,000 

About twenty-five small vineyards, aggregating 300 235, 000 

Middle of Valley. 

"tewart & Warfield 140 110,000 

Irohn & "Williams 60 50,000 

Jlr. Whemquartner 35 30,500 

Several small vineyards, in all 50 37,500 

Uast side of Valley. 

James Shaw 20 16,500 

Thomas Naus 40 33,000 

Lamott & Co 25 20,000 

Several others in this vicinity 102 100,000 

Near Santa Bosa, 

James Shaw 35 30,000 

TVilliam Hood 65 50,000 

In Bennett's valley 170 125,000 

Ahoro Santa Eosa, in tho vicinity of Potaluma, and the bal- 
ance of the county. 400 300,000 

Total 28,870 2, 564,850 



Of tliis number of vines, at least 1, 000, 000 are not bearing. It is 
estimated there were about 400, 000 viaes set out in this county during 
the winter of 1867-8 ; the number planted the preceding year having 
been 500, 000. The vineyards here are chiefly planted with the native 
California vine, which thrives better without irrigation than most of 
the foreign varieties, is less liable to mildew, yielding, withal, a wine 
of good body and easily kept. The Sonoma wine differs from that pro- 



COUNTIES OF CxVLIFOEXIA. 171 

duced in otlier parts of the State, being lighter and more tart, and well 
adapted for champagne purposes. Isador Landsberger, wine dealer, 
of San Francisco, and the Buena Vista Vinicnltural Society, are en- 
gaged in making champagne from these wines. The former manufac- 
tured from the vintage of 1866 six hundred dozen bottles of this article, 
and the latter four hundred dozen. Mr. Landsberger also purchased 
the entire product of 1867 from the vineyard of the Haraszthy Brothers, 
amounting to 15,000 gallons, for the same purpose. 

The grape from Lutgen & Dresel's vineyards is said to yield a wine 
resembling the Moselle of France, more than any other in the State; 
Jackson Temple's vineyard, called the Tokay, produces a wine similar 
to the famous Hungarian tokay. 

Extending north from Marin county, nearly to Russian river, is a 
belt of rich country which produces fine crops of grain and gTass, even 
to the summit of the hills. This is the famous Bodega potato region, 
and includes Twin Eock and Big valley, the northern part of which is 
thickly timbered with redwood. Near the mouth of Russian river is a 
large saw mill, with a railroad connecting it with the forests on the 
mountaius, two miles above. Yalley Ford and Bodega Corners are 
active villages containing a number of churches, school houses, and 
stores, and having a population, including that of the adjacent district, 
of about two thousand. The products of this section of the county 
are shipped to San Francisco, via Bodega bay. In the vicinity of Bo- 
dega Corners, and about sixteen miles northwest of Petaluma, an exten- 
sive business is carried on in the preparation of charcoal for the San 
Francisco market, many thousand bushels being made here annually. 
Hxmdreds of acres have been cleared by the charcoal burners of Sebas- 
topol, as the nearest town is called, the XDine in this region making a 
peculiarly solid coal. 

The "Geysers," a collection of hot springs, one of the greatest 
curiosities in the State, being alike extraordinary for their varied 
appearance, and the chemical composition of their waters, are situated 
in this county. The locality of this singular exhibition of subterranean 
chemistry is in a deep gorge, in the northeastern part of the county, 
about fifty miles from Petaluma, kno^vn as Pluton canon, and through 
which flows Pluton creek, emptying into Eussian river. The spot is 
wildly picturesque, being in the vicinity of some of the highest peaks 
in the Coast Eange of mountains. The springs, which extend for 
nearly a quarter of a mile, in the middle of the canon, cover about two 
hundred acres. They are elevated about 1,700 feet above the level of 
the sea, and are surrounded by mountaius from three thousand to four 



172 THE NATtm-U. WE-VLTII OF CAIIFORNLV. 

tliousand feet higli. This canon lias evidently once been the theatre of 
intense volcanic action, the rocks being burnt into a great variety of 
colors. 

There are over three hundred springs and jets of steam in this 
caiion, from an inch to several feet in diameter, the depositions from 
which vary from snowy white to inky black in color. The water con- 
tains iron, sulphur, and the various salts of lime, magnesia, ammonia, 
soda, and potash, emitting the characteristic odor generated by hydro- 
sulphuric acid. The registry at the hotel kept here is written with the 
dark-colored contents of one of these springs. The rocks, over which 
the waters from these springs flow, are coated with the compounds of 
sulphur, lime, and magnesia. Epsom salts, alum, sulphur, and sul- 
phates of iron can be collected here by the wagon load. 

The two greatest attractions in the canon are the Witches' Cauldron 
and the Steamboat Spring. The former consists of a cavity about seven 
feet in diametei', and of unknown depth, filled with a black, viscid fluid, 
which, boiling with intense energy at a temperatiu'e of 200° Fahren- 
heit, bubbles and splashes, rising occasionally two or three feet above 
the sides of the cauldron, though never running over it. The rocks for 
several feet above this infernal fountain, over which its contents have 
splashed, are covered with innumerable crystals and stalactites of pale 
sulphur. The dark color of this mass is caused by the water of a spring 
holding iron in solution, having, through contact with other water con- 
taining sulphureted hydrogen, formed a new compound, whereby the 
latter has been set free — and hence the foetid odor. When it is recol- 
lected that to the presence of this gas, putrid eggs, bilge and sewer . 
water owe their peculiarly offensive smell, some idea can be formed of 
the abominable odors escaping from this place. 

In the year 1861 this cauldron, from some unknown cause, was 
emptied of its contents and filled with steam. The proprietor of the 
hotel at the place, fearing that it -^Yoiild thus be deprived of one of its 
greatest attractions, caused a small stream of water to be led into the 
cauldron, curious himself to see what would be the result. The instant 
the cool water came in contact with the lower portion of the cavity a 
fearful commotion ensued. The gi-ound, for several rods about, shook 
with violence, and in a few minutes after, the inflowing water was ejected 
with stunning reports, and thrown to the height of nearly one hundred 
feet. In about three hours after the water was shut off the viscid fluid 
reappeared, and has continued to boil and bubble ever since. 

The Steamboat Spring, situated only a few yards from the Cauldron, 
consists of an opening in the rocks at the bottom of the canon, about 



COUNTISS OP CALIFORNIA. 173 

two feet in diameter, tlirougli wliicli is constantly ejected, witL. tlie 
noise of a number of steamers, a body of steam sufficient, could it be 
controlled, to propel a large amount of machinery. This steam is so 
hot as to be invisible for five or six feet above the aperture through 
which it issues. On a clear day it rises in a column to a height of more 
than three hundred feet. 

The earth, in the vicinity of the largest of these springs, is hot, and 
full of sulphtirous vapors, which constantly escape from the surface. 
The ground, for some distance around, shakes and trembles, and the 
visitor, by stamping his foot, causes a terrible noise to resound through 
the cavernous spaces below. If he steps out of the beaten track, or 
thrusts his cane through the thin crust that has hardened on the sur- 
face, hot, sulphurous steam escapes from the aperture. The noise of 
so many steam vents, each blowing off in a different key, and at irreg- 
ular intervals, produces a most discordant din. Some of these sounds 
are subdued and gentle, scarcely louder than the breathings of a horse 
after a severe run; some resemble a low growl emitted at intervals of 
about a minute, while others can scarcely be distinguished from the 
puffings of a high pressure engine. "With all these noises above the 
surface of the earth and below, the loathsome smell of sulphur and 
hydrogen, and the tremulous motion of the ground beneath one's feet, 
a feeling of insecurity inevitably impresses itself upon the minds of 
those who visit this place for the first time. Among the many singular 
things to be seen in this strange canon, are hot and cold water issuing 
from springs but a few feet apart, and in other places water issuing 
from the same orifice, and apparently from the same source, but differ- 
ing essentially in color, taste, smell, and chemical composition. The 
water of Pluton creek, which, when it enters the caiion, is at a low tem- 
perature, becomes heated to about 140° in its passage through it. 
Stimulated by the unusual warmth of the place, vegetation is at all 
times vigorous, even about the margin of the steaming pools. In the 
waters of some of these springs, boiling at 200°, and in others where 
the water is sufficiently acid to burn leather readily into tinder, algcc 
and confervce find a congenial element, and grow abundantly. Less than 
forty paces from the focus of this heated region, trees, shrubs, grass 
and flowers grow with luxuriance, both winter and summer. 

About four miles further to the northeast, up Pluton canon, are the 
Little Geysers, a series of large springs of intensely hot water, but 
they do not contain any mineral substance, except a mere trace of iron. 
They are situated on the side of a gently-sloping hill, at an altitude of 
two thousand two hundred feet. 



174 THE NATTJE.VL WE.\LTH OP CAXIFOENIA. 

Eartliquakes are of frequent occurrence in this region. Persons 
■who have resided there since April, 1847, the date of the discovery of 
these springs, state that the ground about them has, within that 
period, sunk about forty feet. The heated waters and acids appear to 
dissolve the solid rocks, which thus gradually sink, as decomposition 
progresses. 

In 1863, a number of good specimens of auriferous quartz were 
obtained from a ledge discovered on Mark "West creek, about seven 
miles from Santa Eosa, in Bodega township, at which time a mining 
district was organized. Though gold has been found here, it does not 
exist in sufficient quantity to warrant the expenditure necessary for the 
construction of the machinery required for its extraction. Gold has 
also been found associated with cinnabar, a few miles east of the 
Geysers. Silver ores have also been met with, and worked to some 
extent in the range of hills west of Dry creek, nearly opposite Healds- 
burg. The ores of copper are quite abundant in this county. Iil 1863 
a number of districts were organized for working these mines. They 
covered a tract of country twenty-four miles in length by five miles in 
width, throughout which the work of prospecting was carried on exten- 
sively for nearly two years, during which time the towns of Suala, 
Monte Cristo and Copper ton, were laid out and partially built up. 
A considerable quantity of copper ore extracted from these mines was 
shipped thence to San Francisco, but the cost of transportation and 
the decline in the value of copper, put a check to operations here in 
1865. 

Quicksilver exists in considerable quantities, in the mountains in the 
north-eastern part of the county, which are identical in geological 
formation with those in Santa Clara county, wherein the New Almaden 
mines are situated. The deposits of cinnabar in Sonoma county 
appear to have been affected by the subterranean heat of the Geysers, 
from which the more important are distant only a few himdred yards. 
At this locality, the mercury is found in a metallic state. The cinna- 
bar, about a mile to the east, has here been sublimated, and the metal 
cooled in the cavities of the rock, from a single one of which as much 
as six pounds of fluid mercury has sometimes been obtained. The 
Pioneer mine in this vicinity, which was extensively prospected 
between 1861 and 1864, produced during this period a large quantity 
of metal, but is not being worked at present. Quite recently, a valu- 
able quicksilver mine has been developed in Pope valley, Napa county, 
being situated in a continuation of the same formation with the 
Pioneer mine, of which a full description will be found in the topo- 



COUKTIES OF CALIPOENIA. 175 

grapliy of Napa county. Several other claims were located in this 
county. In the mountains extending to the eastward nearly ten miles, 
small deposits of cinnabar have been found in a broad belt of rock, 
nearly the whole distance. 

Coal has been discovered at several places along the course of Eus- 
sian river. The Sulphur Creek and Petaluma Coal Companies, organ- 
ized to work these mines, obtained considerable quantities of good 
coal from them, one lump of which exhibited at Petaluma, in 1867, 
weighed two hundred pounds. The Cumberland Company's mine, 
near Cloverdale, contained a vein in places nearly seven feet thick, and 
from which about one hundred tons of coal were sold. Cloverdale is a 
small place situated on Eussian river, in the northern part of the 
county, about forty-eight miles from Petaluma. 

Near the little town of Sebastopol occur extensive deposits of vari- 
ously tinted ochres and other mineral colors of fine quality. The 
owner of these "jjaint mines," Mr. O. A. Olmstead, is about to erect 
machinery for manufacturing paint from this material. Good free- 
stone and granite are extensively quarried near Santa Eosa ; there are 
also exhaustless quarries of good building-stone near Petaluma. A 
large deposit of excellent potters' clay exists near Albany, on the divid- 
ing ridge between Napa creek and Eussian river. Bricks of superior 
quality are largely manufactured from a bed of good clay found in 
Knight's valley. Limestone and gypsum are quite plentiful in the 
mountains along the northern coast. 

There are twelve grist-mills in the county, eight driven by steam 
and four by water, the whole having a capacity to manufacture 1,000 
barrels of flour per day. The population of Sonoma, which in the year 
1860 numbered only 11,867, amounted to 26,960 in 1867, of whom 
7,959 were children under fifteen years of age. The value of real and 
personal property, assessed at 14,220,005 in 1863, had increased to 
17,000,000 in 1867. 

NAPA COHIirTY. 

Napa county is bounded on the north by Lake, on the south by 
Solano, on the east by Tolo and Solano, and on the west by Sonoma. 
It is about fifteen miles in average width, by forty-five miles in length ; 
contains about 450,000 acres, of which nearly one half is valley and 
upland suitable for cultivation. Upwards, of 200,000 acres were under 
cultivation in 1867. The balance consists of mountains and deep 
canons, which are well timbered towards the north. A branch of the 



176 THE NATUILVL WEALTH OF C.^LrFOE^^A. 

Mayacamas mountains forms tlie boundary between this and Sonoma 
county on tlae west. Mount St. Helena, 4, 343 feet high, the culmi- 
nating peak of this range — the highest point between San Francisco 
and Clear Lake — is in the north-west corner of this county. This 
mountain, forming a conspicuous object in the landscape for many 
miles around, was named in honor of the Empress of Eussia by the 
Kussian naturalist, "Wosnessensky, who ascended it in 1841. A copper 
plate recording the ascent, and placed on the mountain at the time, is 
now in the possession of the officers of the Geological Survey. From 
this point, the range gradually decreases in altitude till, approaching 
the end of Napa valley on the south, it sinks into low, grassy, broken 
hills. This valley, from which the county derives its name, is its chief 
topographical feature. It lies nearly north and south, extending about 
thirty-five miles from San Pablo bay, with an average width of about 
four miles. The upper portion, for a distance of twelve miles from the 
town of St. Helena, to the base of Mount St. Helena at its head, is 
only about one mile wide. At Tount's ranch, or Sebastopol, a town of 
that name nearly in the middle of it, there are a few low hills two 
miles apart. With this exception, the whole valley is a gentle slope 
from its head to the tules along the bay. Napa creek, an insignificant 
but the largest stream in the county, rises at the base of Mount St. 
Helena, and flows through this valley near its eastern side, until it 
unites with tide-water in an estuary near Napa city, from whence it is 
navigable at high tide for vessels drawing six feet of water. 

Knight's valley, situated north of the mountains at the head of 
Napa valley, is seven miles in length by nearly two miles in width, 
trending nearly cast and west, forming a connecting link between Napa 
and Eussian river valleys. This is a beautiful valley, very fertile and 
picturesque, and surrounded by mountains thousands of feet high, tim- 
bered to their summits. This is the timber region of the county, and 
here are located the two saw-mills it contained in 1867. Pine moun- 
tain, nearly 8,000 feet high, so named from the abundance of that 
timber on its sides, is at the head of Knight's valley. Pope valley ex- 
tends north-easterly from this point, into Lake county. It contains 
numerous deposits of quicksilver, some of which are being developed 
successfully. 

Berreyesa valley, in the north-eastern portion of the county, is an 
extensive agricultural region. Monticello, the principal town in it, is 
twenty-four miles distant from Napa city. This fine valley trends to 
the south-east ; is fourteen miles in length, by an average of two miles 
wide, covered with a very rich, deep soil. It is surrounded by moun- 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOBNIA. . 177 

tains, and tlie Putah creek, flowing tlirougL. it from one end to tlie 
other, enters and leaves through narrow rocky gorges. Until 1866, 
this valley was used almost exclusively for stock-raising purposes, in 
consequence of there being no road connecting it with Napa. In that 
year a road was cut, the value of which is illustrated by the fact that, 
since then, nearly 15,000 acres of virgin soil have been broken, and 
planted with wheat and barley. The crops of grain cut here in 1867, 
were among the heaviest in the State — one tract, containing eight 
thousand acres, subdivided into small farms, produced an aggregate of 
one hundred and fifty thousand bushels of wheat, besides a large quan- 
- tity of barley. So productive and cheap was the land in this vicinity, 
that, prior to the opening of the road mentioned, many of the farmers 
who bought their places the previous year, were enabled to pay for 
their land and improvements from the first crop. The wagon-road, 
which so greatly facilitated the development of the Berreyesa valley, 
also aided in opening up several others communicating with it, of 
much smaller size, but equal in fertility. Valleys of this description 
are numerous in this and the adjoining counties, and are being rapidly 
settled by farmers, in anticipation of the completion of the Napa valley 
railroad, which is nearly finished to Calistoga, twenty-sis miles north 
of Napa city, and will probably be continued thence into the Russian 
river coimtry. 

On the road through Napa valley, towards Calistoga springs, an 
attractive picture is presented of a California farming district — sub- 
stantial private dwellings, well fenced fields, broad patches of vine- 
yards and fruit orchards, alternate with grain-fields, extending as far 
as the eye can reach. On either side of this fine valley are mountains 
covered with pine and fir, with here and there a clump of cedar ; the 
lower ranges frdl of thickets of nut-hazel, buckeye, California bay, 
oreodapJme Cali/m-nica, the most odoriferous plant that grows on this 
coast ; the California lilac, a species of ceanothus ; several varieties of 
oak, the ash, and a dense undergrowth of grasses, clover, wild oats and 
flowers, which afford food and covert for an immense number of quail, 
hare, and rabbits. About 500, 000 bushels of wheat were harvested in 
this valley, in 1867. The average yield of all the land sown to this 
grain, being thirty bushels to the acre, without the use of any fertilizer 
or artificial irrigation. Fruits of all kinds, and the vine in all its varie- 
ties are also very productive. The lower hills are covered for miles 
with vineyards, and the area of this cultivation is rapidly extending. 
To illustrate the perfection the foreign varieties of grape attain on 
these hill-sides, Mr. H. M. Amsbury, in 1867, raised bimches of the 
12 



178 



THE NATDEAL WEAITH OP CAITPORNU. 



White Nice measuring tbirty-two incites in circumference, and weigliing 
upwards of eight pounds each. In another vineyard, bunches of the 
Flame Tokay were gathered, weighing five pounds each. The vines on 
these hill-sides are never irrigated — they produce a wine essentially 
different from that made from grapes grown on the low lands, or Avhere 
watered. 

The extent of the grape-culture in this countymay be inferred from 
the following list of the leading vineyards. The mission gi-ape is 
almost exclusively cultivated for wine-making, but foreign varieties 
are grown for table use. 



VlMJiHAKDS DT NAPA COtTNTT. 



Proprietors. Ko. of Vines. 

Samuel Brannan 100,000 

K. Kilburn 12,000 

P. Kellogg 15,000 

E. Kellogg 15,000 

Charles Ki-ug 41,000 

D. Hudson 24,000 

D. Ftdtou 10,000 

J. York 35.000 

■Wm. Hudson 12,000 

Mrs. Mills. 10,000 

Dr. Crane 62,000 

General Keys 30,000 

Dr. Kula 20,000 

P. Pettet. 15,000 

F. Kellogg 20,000 



Proprietors, No. of Vines. 

Lewelling 30,000 

M. Vann 10,000 

Mr. McCord 20,000 

C. Cown 20,000 

Geo. C. Yount 10,000 

Oak KnolL 15,000 

Henry Boggs 20,000 

Siegrist Brothers 60,000 

C. Westfall 12,000 

Hm-dman 20,000 

J. T. Dewoody 20,000 

Capt. PhiL Christensen 35,000 

J. Van 20,000 

Suscol 30,000 



Making a total of 750, 000 vines for the above twenty-nine vineyards. 
There are also a great number of smaller ones, containing from 1,000 
to 10,000 vines each, which, collectively, amount to 250,000, making 
an aggregate of 1,000,000 for the entire county. Estimating that 1,000 
vines are planted to the acre, there are 1, 000 acres in vineyards. 

There appears to be considerable difference in the quality of the 
wine made from grapes groAvn in different localities. Those grown in 
the vineyard of Dr. J. N. Wood, near the soda springs, where he has 
about 5,000 vines of the grey Reisburg variety, are said to make a fine 
hock wine. The peculiar flavor of this wine, which excels that made of 
the same character in other portions of the State, is attributed more to 
the soil than to the fruit. The great fertility of Napa valley, and the 
facilities it enjoys for reaching a market by the railroad passing through 
it connecting with steamers running daily to San Francisco, have 
caused the land in the vicinity to more than double in value during the 
past three years. It is difficult to obtain farms here for less than §25 
per acre, and some are held as high as $100 or more. There are few 



COUNTIES OF CALrFOBNIA. 179 

cattle or sheep raised in this yalley, it being nearly all under cultiva- 
tion. Its name is of Indian origin, being all that remains of a numer- 
ous tribe of aborigines who once inhabited it. They Avere nearly 
exterminated by the small-pox in 1838. 

Napa city, the county seat, was founded in 184:8 by JSTathan 
Coombs, a pioneer settler in the valley. It is situated at the head of 
navigation on Napa creek, steamers plying daily between the city and 
San Erancisco. A railroad connects at Suscol landing, six miles south 
of the town, for convenience of shipping at all stages of the tide. It is 
a flourishing town, containing many flower-gardens, vineyards and 
orchards, a number of substantial public buildings, including hotels, 
churches, schools, etc. It is lighted with gas, and supplied with 
abundance of good water, brought in pipes from the mountains. In 
addition to the railroad to Calistoga, a number of good macadamized 
roads, connecting with the interior of the county, have been made, or 
are in progress. This enterprising spirit of its residents has materially 
increased the business of the city during the past two years, and nearly 
doubled the value of its property. At the close of 1867, it contained 
about 1,900 inhabitants, of whom 500 were children ; in 1864, its popu- 
lation was less than 1, 000. The construction of a railroad through the 
upper portion of Napa valley, has created an active trade in firewood. 
The Napa Wood Company have purchased from the Federal Government 
nearly 15,000 acres of mountain land, covered with black oak and other 
trees, near Oakville, on the line of the road. In November, 1867, 
there were 3,000 cords of wood piled up here for shipment to San 
Francisco. 

Calistoga springs, one of the most pleasant, convenient, and fashion- 
able watering-places in California, are in this county, about twenty-six 
miles north of Napa city, with which place they are connected by the 
Napa valley railroad. They are situated in a romantic valley about 
three miles long and one mile wide, surrounded on all sides by tow- 
ering mountains, the rugged outlines and steep declivities of which 
impart to the scene a wild gi-andeur. On the north, less than three 
miles distant. Mount St. Helena looms in gigantic proportions, black 
and gi'im, while all around are peaks but little inferior to it in altitude, 
and so steep that their sides appear almost perpendicular. Some of 
these mountains are covered with timber to their very summits, others 
remaining bare and bleak as when first created. The telescopic out- 
line of these distant hills, on a Avarm summer's day, is among the mar- 
vels of the atmospherical lahenomena of California. No English park 
is more beautiful than the plain that stretches between the town and 



180 THE NATUEAL WEAJLTH OF CALIFOKNIA. 

Mount St. Helena, covered with oak and sycamoi'e forest-trees, 
arranged by Nature witli such exquisite symmetry as art could never 
accomplish. A rivulet, formed by the water fx-om innumerable springs 
on the hill-sides, flows through the valley. This water, owing to it.? 
chemical composition, is of pale blue tint, giving a singular charm to 
the region through which it flows. The soil around these hot springs, 
extending over nearly a mile of the valley, is as springy imder foot as 
the quaking bogs in some of the Atlantic States, and is covered with a 
tough, wiry grass, which cattlo and horses are exceedingly fond of. 
The springs nearest the hotel have been enclosed in capacious wooden 
tanks, set in the ground, the water bubbling up within them, clear and 
sparkling. Over several of these tanks, houses have been erected sup- 
plied with conveniences for bathing, with the water at any desii-ed tem- 
perature. 

The springs at Calistoga are supposed to be connected with the 
Geysers in Sonoma county, from which they are twenty-five miles dis- 
tant. They differ in temperature from 75° to 200° Tah., and contain 
iron, sulphur and the various salts of lime, magnesia and soda. Several 
deep holes have been bored among these springs, with a view to obtain- 
ing pure water. At a depth of sixty-two feet, the water in one of these 
holes was so intensely hot as to break the bulb of the thermometer 
used to test it. The materials met with by the borer, prove this valley 
to be much older than the Geysers. The auger passed through sis- 
teen feet of rich loam, resting on six feet of gravel, under which is a 
stratum of tufacious matter ten feet thick, and a bed of clay and gravel 
29 feet thick ; below this, was a stratum of rock too hard for the auger. 
The temperature of the water, six feet beneath the surface, was found 
to be 135°; at 22 feet, 195°; at 32 feet, 210°; below which point it was 
too hot to be tested with the instrument. In other holes, bored to a 
depth of 70 feet, the temperature increased about 3° for eveiy ten feet 
sunk, the water being sufficiently hot at the lowest depth attained to 
boil eggs in a few minutes. 

The greater portion of the Talley in which these springs are located 
is the property of Samuel Brannan, Esq., one of the most entei-prising 
residents of San Francisco, who has expended upwards of §100,000 
in aiding Nature to further adorn this beautiful place. Ornamental 
trees, flowers and shrubs from almost every clime, have been gathered, 
100,000 grape vines planted, mazy walks, cosy bowers, and labjainth- 
ine groves laid out, without the appearance of having been planted 
artificially. In a spot so sheltered, with a soil so rich — always moist 
and warm — all the plants of the warmer latitudes grow with extraordi- 



COUNTIES OP CALIFOKNIA. 181 

nary luxuriance. The whole valley forma a sort of open-air conserv- 
atory, while, on the hills and knolls around it, the air is delightfully 
cool and balmy. The hotel and bathing accommodations are extensive 
and elegantly fitted up, including capacious tepid swimming-baths, for 
both sexes. The valley is not, however, wholly devoted to the use of 
the votaries of pleasure. A large tract of land has been planted with 
mulberry trees, to feed silk-worms ; another tract has been planted 
with willow, for the manufacture of baskets. In the mountains, among 
the timber, is a steam saw-mill, where thousands of feet of excellent 
lumber is cut; and, on the lower hills, are vineyards and fruit orchards 
in a high state of cultivation. The career of the proprietor of one of 
the Calistoga vineyards, affords such an excellent illustration of what a 
"poor man," with no other capital than intelligence and industry, may 
accomplish in California, that we give some particulars about Schram, 
and his vineyard, as an example worthy of imitation. Schram is a 
German by birth, and a barber by profession. "When he arrived in the 
State, less than seven years ago, he had neither money nor friends, and 
could scarcely speak our language ; but he had tact and courage. Be- 
lieving that the hill-sides around this valley would produce a superior 
quality of grapes, he procured a tract of the land for a trifle — being 
covered with timber and underbrush, it was not considered to be worth 
anything. By dint of hard labor, he cleared a few acres and planted 
them with vines, acting as barber at the springs on Saturdays and Sun- 
days, in order to obtain money to pay his current expenses. He now 
has, at the end of five years, 15,000 vines growing, about one half of 
which bear fruit, from which he has made sufficient wine to pay for 
. considerable improvements. 

The YvTiite Sulphur springs are another fashionable resort. These 
are about six miles south of Calistoga, in the same range of mountains. 
They are in a deep gorge, so narrow that a strong man might throw a 
stone from one of the mountains that enclose it, to the- other. A little 
babbling stream of clear, cold water ripples through the gorge over a 
pebbly bed, shaded by the foliage of broad oaks and drooping willows, 
forming quite a different scene to that about Calistoga. The waters 
are also different, issuing in a clear stream from the mountain side, at 
a temperature of about 80'-'. There are excellent hotel and bathing 
arrangements at these springs, but they are less frequented than 
Calistoga. 

The Napa Soda Springs are situated about five miles north from 
Napa City, on the east side of the valley, in a branch of the same range 
of mountains as the other mineral springs in this and the adjoining 



182 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF C.'JLIFORXU. 

counties, but nearly twenty miles soutli of any of those described. 
They arc elevated nearly one thousand feet above the level of the valley, 
on the slope of the mountain. The number of springs must be very 
great, as they issue from the surface over an area of about thirty-five 
acres. Some of them discharge but little water — others are sufficiently 
large to keep an inch pipe constantly filled. Some merely ooze from 
the slate formation composing the mountain — others have formed basins 
around them by the sedimentary matter they deposit. 

The liquid from the larger spring is a fine quality of natural soda 
water, highly charged with carbonic acid gas, and has become a popu- 
lar beverage throughout California. Napa soda, obtained from these 
springs, is bottled and sold at the rate of five thousand dozen per month 
during the summer season. Small gasometers are placed over each of 
the larger springs, which collect the gas as it escapes with the water, 
after which it is conducted by means of pipes into the main gasometer, 
and then forced into the bottles under a pressure of forty-five to sixty 
pounds. 

These valuable springs were discovered in 1853, but the water was 
not considered of commercial value until 1856. Since that time the 
demand for it has steadily increased. It is intended to erect a spacious 
hotel in the vicinity, so that those who desire to do so may imbibe the 
soda from the fountain head. 

The waters of these springs have been frequently analyzed. From 
experiments made by Dr. Lanszweert, a practical chemist, a quart of it 
being evaporated, was found to contain 17.19 grains of solid matter, 
compounded of the following substances : 

Grains. 

Bicarbonate of soda 3.28 

Carbonate of magnesia 6.53 

Carbonate of lime 2.72 

Chloride of sodium 1. 30 

Sub-carbonate oi iron 1.96 

Sulphate of soda 0.46 

Silicious acid 0.17 

Aliunina 0. 15 

Loss 0.62 

Total 17.09 

Oak Knoll, originally the property of J. "W. Osborn, one of the 
most enlightened and enterprising among the pioneer farmers of Cal- 
ifornia, and who spent large sums of money in cultivating and improv- 
ing it, is now owned by B. B. Woodward. This farm, containing about 
eighteen hundred acres of fertile land, occupies the gi-eater portion of 
a, genlly-rounded knoll, situated nearly in the center of Napa valley. 



COXnjTIES OF CAUCPOKNIA. 183 

about five miles from the city. Ancient white oaks of large size still 
ilourisli about it in all their pristine beauty, imparting to the spot a 
peculiarly venerable aspect. Broad fields of grain, luxuriant vineyards, 
and -well-trained orchards tell that the useful has not been sacrificed to 
the ornamental or beautiful — all being blended with admirable taste 
and judgment. 

On the boundary between this and Lake county, connecting with 
Mount St. Helena, is an irregular pile of steep and rugged mountains, 
extending as far as the head of Napa valley, in which large deposits of 
quicksilver have been found, some of which have been in process of 
exploration since their discovery in 1859. The indications of this metal 
have been traced for nearly fifteen miles from Sonoma, through Lake, 
into this county. About two miles south of Mount St. Helena, in a 
deep canon, running nearly east and west, is a steep bank, on the south 
nearly eighteen hundred feet high, and about a mile in length, the most 
of which contains cinnabar, its slopes being covered with fragments 
that have fallen from the croppings above. Portions of this ore can 
be panned out from almost any of the surface dirt in this canon, and 
small grains can be gathered from the serpentine and sandstone of which 
the bank is composed. There are two well defined ledges in this bank, 
about two hundred yards apart, the lower about eight hundred feet 
above the bottom of the canon, trending northwest and southeast, which 
are richer in the ore than other portions. Another caiion, trending to 
the south, crosses that in which this bank is situated, and extends into 
James' canon, trending northeast about two miles. Here the cinnabar 
crops out along the sides and over the summit of the mountain which 
divides this canon from Pope valley. From its top, descending east- 
ward into the latter for about two miles, the ores are richer and more 
abundant than in any other portion. The owners of the lead in this 
vicinity have expended large sums in prospecting their claim. In 1863 
.furnaces were erected and about twenty thousand pounds of mercury 
obtained, but the disconnected nature of the deposits, defective appar- 
atus, and high price of labor and materials compelled the parties to 
cease operations. 

During 1867 new and important discoveries of cinnabar were made 
in this vicinity, and several hundred tons of ore extracted, which 
yielded at the rate of from eight to thirty per cent, of metal. At the 
close of that year a considerable force of men were employed opening 
a number of claims here. A furnace capable of reducing eight tons of 
ore per day Avas put up, numerous buildings were erected, a dam and 
flume were built, and every preparation made for extensive operations. 



184 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF C.U.rFORNIA. 

Pope valley lies about forty miles north of Napa city. About ten miles 
nortli from this place, between Berreyesa valley and Clear Lake is an- 
other locality abounding in cinnabar, though the ore differs from that 
in Pope valley, it being of a leaden-gray color, while the other is a red 
ore. Traces of gold are found in the ores at both places. The native 
Califbrnians were aware of the existence of these deposits before their 
discovery by Americans — these people designating them as "la veta 
madre, " or, the mother vein. 

The population of Napa county in the fall of 1867 numbered about 
8, 000, chiefly Americans and Europeans, or about one inhabitant to 
each fifty -nine acres. In 1860 it contained 5,500. 

LAKE COUNTY. 

Lake county is bounded on the north by Colusa and Mendocino, 
on the south by Napa and "Sonoma, on the east by Colusa and Tolo, 
and on the west by Mendocino and Sonoma. It is about sixty miles 
in length by fifteen miles in average width. The whole of it is em- 
braced within two branches of the main coast mountains, ninning 
nearly north and south, which divide on the south of Mount St. Helena, 
the western branch being known locally as the Mayacamas, (the name 
of a once numerous tribe of Indians that inhabited them, ) and the east- 
ern as Bear mountains, from the number of grizzlies living there. 
Mount Eiipley, the highest peak of this division, near the upper end of 
Clear Lake, is upwards of three thousand feet high. These divisions re- 
unite near the northern limit of the county, Avhere Mount St. John, the 
connecting ridge, attains a height of nearly four thousand feet. Between 
these ranges lies a valley about forty miles in length by nearly fifteen 
miles wide, the sides of which are formed by narrow ridges of broken 
mountains, separated by deep gorges and narrow canons, covered with 
timber underbrush, wild oats and grapes, in which all kinds of game 
abound. A grizzly bear was killed in these mountains in 1865, weigh-' 
ing nearly two thousand pounds. In this valley is Clear Lalfe, cover- 
ing more than one third of its surface. This beautiful lake is nearly 
one thousand five hundred feet above the level of the sea, is sixty-five 
miles from Suisun bay and thirty-six miles from the Pacific ocean. 
It has a length of about twenty-five miles, and for the fii-st ten miles 
from its northern end averages ten miles in width, after which it is con- 
tracted to a width of about two miles — the base of a mountain called 
Uncle Sam projecting into it at this pofnt, and dividing it into the upper 
and lower lake. This mountain rises almost perpendicularly from the 
water to an altitude of two thousand five hundred feet, and to the south- 



COTOfTTES OF CALIFOENIA. 185 

east, a distance of eight miles, tlie lake contracts into Caclie creek, its 
only outlet, a deep, wide stream, -wliicli flows eastward through Yolo 
county for sixty miles and unites with the Sacramento, near Knight's 
landing. The Cache creek valley, a very fertile district, extends through 
this county into Yolo. Hawkins' arm of the lower lake, as the narrow 
portion is termed, is about two miles wide, and extends east among the 
mountains a distance of six miles. North of Uncle Sam mountain, the 
main lake is, in places, more than nine miles wide, but owing to the 
peculiarly clear atmosphere which usually prevails, the distance appears 
much less. Its waters are clear as crystal, cool and deep, and the upper 
lake, from one end to the other, full of fish, and unbroken by a single 
island. The narrow portion contains several beautiful little islands, 
inhabited by Indians, who call the lake Lup Yomi. These Indians 
are a poor, harmless, and apparently happy set of beings, who live on 
roots, fish, and game — ^which latter they exibit great dexterity in catch- 
ing — the fish with net, and the wild fowl with slings, in which they use 
small pellets of hard baked clay. They can hit a duck with these pel- 
lets as unerringly as white men can with a shot gun. The canoes used 
by these people, made of tules dried and bound together, are precisely 
similar to those described by Cabrillo and Father Palou, and alluded to 
in the historical portion of this work. Pike, trout, and blackfish are 
abundant in the lake, and ducks, geese, and other wild fowls may be 
found in the tules which fringe its shores. 

North-west of Uncle Sam mountain, is a belt of fine bottom-land, 
known as Big valley, which, rising gradually from the border of the 
lake, extends to the head of the main valley, and is nearly two miles 
wide, thickly sprinkled with oak and willow, and traversed by mimer- 
ous small streams, which empty into the lake. On this plain is located 
Lakeport, the county seat, about one hundred miles north from San 
Francisco — a quiet, prosperous little town. There is twenty feet of 
water close to the shore at this place ; and a small sailing vessel plies 
between it and the lower lake. It is contemplated to construct a small 
steamer, to facilitate freight and travel between these two points. 
There are two grist-mills and three saw-mills in this valley, which are 
kept busy supplying the district with flour and lumber. The moun- 
tains furnish abundance of redwood, pine and fir. 

The eastern shore of the lake is quite mountainous ; but, towards 
the north, the range is much broken, and several creeks flow through 
caiaons into the lake. Along the banks of these creeks, and at other 
places near the shore, are considerable patches of rich grazing land, 
affording nutritious pasturage for a large number of cows. Some of 



186 THE NATUTiiVL AYEALTH OF aiLrFOENIA. 

the cheese made here is reputed to be equal to the best English Stil- 
ton, or Cheshire. There are six large dairies in this valley, having 
sixty to one hundred and fifty cows each. The annual product of the 
county, for the past four years, has been about 200,000 pounds of 
cheese, each cow giving enough milk to make about 300 pounds during 
the year. 

There are good roads from Lakeport connecting with Suisun, Men- 
docino, and Napa counties. It is proposed to extend a branch of the 
Napa valley railroad, to the head of Lake valley. A road has also been 
surveyed to connect with the Geysers, only ten miles distant. 

There are numerous small branch-valleys among the surrounding 
mountains, some of which have been brought under cultivation within 
the past year or two. Sigler valley, a few miles west of the head of 
Lake valley, is one of the finest of these little places. It is about five 
miles in circumference, surrounded by mountains of the most pictur- 
esque form. One of these mountains, from which the valley receives 
its name, contains a large number of springs, varying in temperature 
from icy coldness to a boiling heat, of different colors and flavor, 
including one of cold soda-water. A hotel has been erected in this 
valley, for the accommodation of visitors. 

This county was organized in 1861 ; until then it formed the north- 
ern portion of Napa county. Its first white settlers were Lease, Kel- 
sey, and Stone, who had a cattle-ranch in Lake valley, in 1844. The 
two latter were killed by Indians in 1851. The present population of 
the county is about 4,000, including 1,200 children. There are several 
small villages located along the shores of the lake and among the val- 
leys. The land under cultivation in 1867, exceeded 7, 000 acres, from 
which good crops of wheat, barley and vegetables were raised, but 
little attention being paid to fmit. Experiments made recently 
demonstrate that a good quality of cotton can be grown in the shel- 
tered vallej^s. Good land in this county is held at twenty to fifty dol- 
lars per acre. 

One of the more considerable sources of wealth in this county con- 
sists of its borax and sulphur deposits, both of which abound in great 
profusion and purity in the vicinity of Clear Lake. Borax lake, or 
Lake Kaysa as it is called by the Indians, a pond covering from two to 
four hundred acres, according to the season of the year, is situated a 
short distance east of Clear lake, about half-way between Cache creek 
and Hawkins' arm, in a valley formed by two steep ridges at the head 
of Cache creek. Borax lake is situated on a sort of peninsula extend- 
ing into Clear lake, being separated from the latter by a cretaceous 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 



187 



ridge varying from half a mile to one mile in width. In the faU of 
thenar, when filled up by the rains, this pond is about sis thousand 
feet long and two thousand wide. It is of an irregular, oval shape, its 
longitudinal axis lying east and west, and in ordinary seasons varies in 
depth from five feet in the month of April, to two feet at the end of 
October. The appearance of the land to the eastward, indicates that 
this lake at one time extended a mile in that direction beyond its 
present limit, wells sunk in this land filling with water similar to that 
in the lake, which has no visible inlet or outlet. The waters of this 
pond contain a considerable per cent, of borax, carbonate of soda 
and chloride of sodium in solution; yet it is not from this water 
that the supply of borax is obtaiaed. Beneath, lies a bed of black 
jelly-like mud, three feet in depth, which feels like soap between the 
fin"-ers. TJiis mud contains enormous quantities of the crystals of 
biborate of soda. Underlying it is a bed of tough bluish clay, from 
five to twelve feet in thickness, and which also contains numerous layers 
of these crystals, mostly of a larger size. The latter are semi-trans- 
parent and of a grayish or brownish tint, being contaminated more or 
less with earthy matters. These crystals are collected and dissolved in 
boiling water, when the impurities fall to the bottom of the vessels, and 
they re-form in a state of nearly absolute purity and of ahnost snowy 
whiteness. 

From experiments made by the California Borax Company, who 
own this lake, it has been ascertained that the water, mud and clay, to 
a depth of sixty feet— as far down as they have tested them— are 
heavily charged with this valuable salt, as well as a large percentage of 
carbonate of soda, and chloride of sodium. Professor Oxland, who for 
some time had charge of the company's works, found the black mud to 
contain, by analysis, 17.73 per cent, of borax. Another sample ana- 
lyzed by Mr. Moore, a chemist of San Francisco, yielded 18.86 percent, 
of this salt. The clay, at the depth of eight feet has been found to 
contain 15, and that taken from a depth of sixty feet, 3.61 per cent, of 
borax. The prepared borax produced by this company is made from 
the crystals alone, these being ample to supply all the crude material 
required for present operations, the quantity purified amounting to 
between twenty-five hundred and three thousand pounds daily. 

Until 1S6G the only apparatus employed to obtain the borax con- 
sisted of four iron coffer dams, six feet square and nine feet deep, which, 
having been floated to the spot Avhere required, on a raft, were svmk 
through the mud by their own weight into the mud beneath, after which 
they were pumped out and the mud was removed and placed in cisterns 



188 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNU. 

to be treated as already desci'ibed. Latterly a dredging maelime has 
been employed, -which not only expedites operations, but curtails 
expenses. 

This lake was discovered by Dr. John A. Veatch, in September, 
1859. About two miles to the north of it, on the edge of Clear Lake, 
is a group of boiling springs, scattered over an area of about eight acres, 
the water of which is highly charged with boracic acid, soda and chlor- 
ine. From a gallon of this water Dr. Veatch obtained, by analysis, four 
hundred and forty-eight grains of solid matter, consisting of borax, 
carbonate of soda, chloride of sodium, and silicious matter. One of 
these springs discharges nearly one hundred gallons of water per min- 
ute, the quantity issuing from the entire number being about three 
hundred gallons per minute, but which is here suffered to run to waste, 
because of the abundance of more available material at hand. The 
water of these springs contain the following elements : 

Bicarbonate of soda 76. 96 

Bicarbonate of ammonia 107. 76 

Biborate of soda 103.29 

Free carbonic acid. 36. 37 

Chloride of sodium 84. 62 ■ 

Iodide of magnesium 09 

Alumina 1.26 

SOicic acid 8. 23 

Matters volatile at red lieai 65.77 

And traces of sulphate of lime, chloride of potassium, and bromide of magnesium. 

These substances being calculated as anhydrous salts and borax, 
containing forty-seven per cent, of water when crystalized, causes 
103.29 grains in the above analysis to be equal to 195.35 of commercial 
borax. There are probably no springs in the world which contain so 
large a per cent, of ammoniacal salts as these. 

There is another borax-lake situated in a little valley a few miles 
northeast of Clear lake, surrounded with thick forests of oak and pine. 
The bottom of this lake, which covers an area of about twenty acres 
with a clay similar to that found in the larger lake ; and, although its 
-waters are more highly charged -with boracic acid, the ciystals of the 
borate of soda have not as yet been found in its bottom. Besides the 
springs already mentioned, there are several others of less magnitude in 
this county, impregnated with the salt of borax. 

On the shore of Clear lake, near the hot borate springs before 
noticed, is an immense deposit of sulphur, from beneath which these 
springs appear to flow. This bank, -which covers an area of about 
40,000 square yards, is composed of sulphur that appears to have been 



COUNTIES OF CALIFORNIA. 189 

concreted into a solid mass — splintered and fissui'ed in innumerable 
places, from the vapors constantly arising from these springs. Any 
object placed in the latter is speedily covered with crystals of this 
siibstance. Considerable quantities of sulphur from this place have 
been refined and used by chemical -works, and in gunpowder, match 
ani other factories. 

In purifying this article, it was found to be impregnated with mer- 
cury to a degree that imparted to it quite a dark color ; a defect, how- 
ever, that was readily obviated. On being worked, it is found to yield 
seventy to eighty per cent, of pure brilliant sulphur. The company 
refine from six to ten tons of sulphur per day. The demand for this 
article, for home consumption, amounts to about twelve hundred tons 
annually in this State, of which five hundred tons are required by 
the chemical works, six htmdred by the powder-mUls, and one hundred 
for making matches, etc. ; the most of that obtained in California being • 
from deposits in Colusa .county. Its market value is $50 per ton in 
San Prancisco ; but so abundant is this article in the mountains ex- 
tending north from this bank in Lake county, to Tuscan springs in 
Tehama county, that the supply must always be out of all proportion 
to the demand, there being a sufficiency here to meet the requirements 
of the world for centuries to come. There are a number of small beds 
of salt in this county, but their contents, although quite pure, are only 
used to supply local wants. Gold and silver-bearing lodes have been 
found in Luckanome valley, and also near Eed river in this comity, 
from some of which very satisfactory assays have been discovered. 
Silver ore, assaying as high as $50 to the ton, has been discovered in 
Sigler valley, and also at a point near Lakeport, while copper and cin- 
nabar occur at various localities, the most promising deposits of these 
metals having been f oxmd near Knoxville, at the head of Berreyesa 
valley. 

Petroleum is collected, in small quantities, from the surface of many 
of the small lakes and pools among the mountains, though little or 
nothing has been done towards tracing this substance to its source. 

Marble, pumice stone, and sulphate of lime, occur abundantly at 
many localities in the county. 

MENDOCINO COUNTY. 

This county derives its name from Cape Mendocino, the most west- 
ern headland in the State, formerly included in this county, but now a 
portion of the adjoining county of Humboldt. 

Mendocino is bounded on the north by Humboldt, on the east by 



100 THE NATUE.U- WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

Colusa and Lake, on the south by Sonoma, and on the west by the 
Pacific ocean. Its length, extending north and south, is about eighty 
miles, its average width about forty miles. It covers an ax-ea of up- 
wards of 2, 000, 000 acres, of which 900,000 are fit for cultivation, and 
200, 000 are good grazing lands, the balance being composed of rugged 
hills and lofty mountains. At the close of 18G7, there were 100,000 
acres enclosed, of which 60, 000 were under cultivation. 

The main topographical features of this county consist of two paral- 
lel ranges of the coast mountains, extending in a direction nearly north 
and south through its entire length. Between these ranges are a 
nearly contiauous chain of valleys, through which flow the Eel and 
Russian rivers, the two largest streams in this section of the county, 
both having their sources in the Mayacamas mountains, in the vicinity 
of Potter's valley, on the eastern border, and nearly in the center of 
this county. Eel river, flowing northward through this and Humboldt 
count}-, empties into the Pacific ocean near Centerville, a short dis- 
tance from Humboldt bay. In December, 1867, a bill was introduced 
in the State Legislature, requesting the Federal Government to direct 
the officers of the Coast survey to make a thorough examination of the 
mouth of this river, with a view to ascertaining what measures, if any, 
shoidd be adopted to improve its navigation. A small schooner made 
several trips a short distance up this river in 1866, showing that it is 
navigable, to some extent at least. Russian river, flowing southward 
through this and Sonoma counties, empties into the Pacific ocean near 
Fort Eoss. There are a great number of tributaries to both of these 
rivers, which, having their sources in the surrounding mountains, and 
flowing through the main and lateral valleys, cause Mendocino to be 
one of the best-watered counties in the State, and fui-nish it with 
almost unlimited power for the propulsion of machinery. 

In the range bordering the coast, there are upwards of twenty 
streams, many of them of considerable A'olume, though but few miles 
in length, which flow westward into the Pacific ocean. Many of these 
are employed by lumbermen for running saw-mills, floating logs from 
the mountains, and for shipping the lumber and other produce from 
the adjoining valleys. The moiiths of nearly all of these streams form 
estuaries, aff'ording safe harbors for coasting vessels. 

From Shelter Cove on the north to Havens' anchorage on the south, 
a distance of more than one hundred miles, the outer Coast Range is 
covered with an almost unbroken and nearty impenetrable forest of red- 
wood and pine, extending inland from fifteen to thirty-five miles. lu 
this region are located seven large saw mills, which cut and shipj^ed 



COUNTIES OP CALrFOENIA. 191 

during tlie year 1867, forty-sis million feet of lumber, and nine 
small mills, wliicli turned out over two million feet, chiefly for local 
consumption. A large quantity of posts, rails, railroad ties, pickets, 
shingles and other split lumber, are also shipped from the different 
landings. The lumber trade of this region is the chief resource of the 
county, giving employment to nearly one half of its population and to 
about forty schooners of from one hundred to two hundred tons bur- 
den. The following particulars concerning the largest of these mills 
will convey an idea of the proportions and manner of conducting the 
lumber business in this county: The Albion mill, at the mouth of 
Albion river, the property of Messrs. McPherson and Wetherbee, is 
run by steam and cost $30, 000. During 1867 its owners cut and shipped 
to San Francisco six million feet of sawed lumber. This firm also owns 
the Noyo steam mill, at the mouth of Noyo river, about twenty miles 
further north than the Albion, which cost $35,000, and from which 
they shipped in 1867 seven million feet. It was at this mill that 
the extraordinarily large redwood plank, now on exhibition at the 
Department of Agi'iculture, "Washington, was cut — one of the largest 
planks ever cut by a mill in any part of the world, measuring seven 
feet five inches in width, by twelve feet in length, and four inches 
in thickness. These are good specimens of much of the lumber made 
in this district, being free from knots or blemishes of any kind, and 
cut as smooth and even as slabs of marble. There are thousands of 
redwood trees in the forests here measuring from fourteen to eighteen 
feet in diameter at six feet above ground, and without a knot or limb 
for one hundred feet from their roots up. 

The "Walhalla steam mill, on Walhalla river, owned by Messrs. Hay- 
wood & Harmon, costing $30, 000, cut and sent to market 4, 000, 000 feet 
of lumber in 1867; Stickney & Coomb's steam mill, on Little river, cost- 
ing $20,000, cut and shipped over 5,000,000 feet; Tichenor & Bixbey's 
steam mill, at the mouth of Novarro river, costing $30,000, cut and 
shipped 6,000,000 feet; and J. G. Jackson's steam mill, on Caspar creek, 
costing $30, 000, cut and shipped 6, 000,000 feet in 1867. The Mendocino 
Mill Company, at Mendocino City, has a steam mill which cost $60, 000, 
and cut 12,000,000 feet of lumber in 1867. The other mills in this 
county are of small capacity, and mainly run by water power. Each of 
the principal mills is located near the mouth of a creek or river, near 
tide water, convenient for loading vessels — such creeks or estuaries 
occurring at irregular intervals of ten or fifteen miles along the whole 
coast of the county, and affording unusual facilities for conducting an 
extensive lumber trade. 



192 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALTFOENIA. 

It is an astonishing siglit to those not acquainted with the business 
to see the immense saAvs pass through these mammoth logs. Many of 
the hxtter are from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, from twelve to sixteen 
feet in length, and are handled by the machinery used -with great celer- 
ity and facility. In a few minutes they are ripped into hundreds of 
boards and scantling — ready for shipment. It requires the services of 
several men to remove the lumber as fast as a gang of two saws run- 
ning on these enormous logs will cut it. The large mills here make 
about eleven working months in the year, one month in every twelve 
being required for repairing and keeping the mill in order. When 
driven with work they sometimes run night and day, but never on Sun- 
days. The logs are cut in the summer, and after lying till they dry and 
become light and more easy to handle, are hauled to the banks of the 
streams — many of them at this season dwindled to rivulets — and rolled 
into their channels, where they remain until the streams become swollen 
by the winter rains, when they are floated down to the mills, a little 
above which booms are rigged for catching them. 

This timber land is all a part of the public domain, and so exten- 
sive are these forests that the millmen rarely ever go to the trouble of 
reducing any portion of it to possession, each man cutting in the vicinity 
of his mill withou]^ molestation or question. So abundant is the supply 
that it is not likely to suffer serious diminution during the present gen- 
eration. This lumber, delivered in San Francisco, sells at about twenty 
dollars per thousand feet for rough, and thirty dollars for dressed. At 
the lowest figure named, the value of the lumber made in Mendocino 
county, and shipped thence during the year 1867, amounted to the 
sum of $9,600,000. 

Lying east of the timbered mountains is a tract of open country 
known as the Bald Hills, they being nearly destitute of trees, though 
covered with wild oats, clover and other grasses affording an abund- 
ant pasturage. In the main Coast Eange of mountains, which traverses 
the entire western part of the county, there are a number of bold peaks, 
some of them nearly six thousand feet high, but few of them having as 
yet received a name. Near their summits these peaks are bare and 
rugged, or covered only with chaparral, though oaks and various other 
trees grow about their base. The country everywhere abounds with 
grizzly bears, deer, elk, and other game, very little of it yet being 
settled, or in fact fully explored. The entire region, reaching from the 
Hay Fork of Trinity river to the head of Piussian river, a distance of 
nearly one hundred and thirty miles, remains an almost uninhabited 
wilderness, though its agricultural and grazing resources are kno-mi to 



COUNTIES OP CALIFOENIA. 193 

be immense. The reason so little settlement has been made in this 
extensive and inviting tract is, there are no roads by which it can bo 
approached from other parts of the State — the hostile character of the 
Indians, who, until a few years since, possessed it, having also tended 
to keep out immigration. Lying between the main ranges of moun- 
tains are several extensive and fertile valleys, within the limits of this 
county. In these valleys most of the farming population resides, and 
here three-fourths of all the grain, fruits and vegetables produced in 
the county are raised. 

Commencing with Ukiah, a part of the main Russian river valley, 
-and which extends south fifteen miles into Sonoma county, we have 
adjoining it, on the north, Coyote valley, three miles long by one and 
a half wide, connecting with Potter's valley, six miles long and two 
wide. Twenty miles north of Ukiah is Little Lake valley, beyond 
which to the north is Sherwood's valley, and nine miles further on. 
Long valley — all containing a considerable quantity of good land, and 
offering tempting inducements to settlement. Eound valley, sixty 
miles from Ukiah, lies in the northern part of Mendocino, extending 
into Humboldt county. Around these larger are numbers of lateral 
and subordinate valleys, the most noteworthy of which are Anderson's, 
Redwood, Sarral, and Eden Spring, each containing a fair share of 
good land. As Little Lake valley fairly represents the entire group, 
we select it for a somewhat more detailed description. This pleasant 
spot, deriving its name from a small, deep lake of pure water, reposing: 
among the rocks at its southern end, is six miles long and three wide. 
It is sheltered on every hand by a grand amphitheatre of heavily 
wooded mountains, from which a number of streams of clear water' 
descend into the valley. The base of these mountains is covered with 
grass, and there are several thousand acres of good land in the valley,, 
which, though not discovered until 1853, contained, four years after, 
about fifty families, who managed to maintain themselves in comfort- 
able independence, cultivating about 3,000 acres of its fertile soil. 
When first discovered, this valley was inhabited by three tribes of In- 
dians, who subsisted upon the fish, game, wild fruits, and seeds found 
in and around it. 

The climate of these valleys is more humid, and owing to their 
greater elevation, somewhat colder than that of the valleys further 
south and east. The ocean-fogs, passing over the lofty timbered 
ranges to the west, cause freqtient showers during the summer, which 
tend to keep vegetation green and prevent the larger streams from dry- 
ing up, as they are apt to do further south, while the snow-capped 



194 THE NATUK.\L WEALTH OF aVLIFORNIA. 

peaks in tlie Coast Eange to the east, absorbing tlie heated air from the 
plains, render the summer climate of this region much cooler than in 
the great interior and southern valleys. 

Com, hemp, and tobacco, grow vigorously, and never fail to ma- 
ture in these valleys, -while all the more hardy plants and fruits flomish 
with little other culture than the mere act of planting. The peach, 
however, does not thrive so well here as in warmer localities, and the 
grape requires to be planted on the sunny side of the hills in order to 
reach perfection. Most of the soil in these valleys, formed chiefly from 
the disintegration of the volcanic rocks of which the country around is 
largely composed, consists of a black, sandy loam, very favorable to 
the gi-owth of the cereals, as well as most kinds of fruits. The greatest 
fruit-growing localities are Anderson and Ukiah valleys, in the south- 
ern portion of the county. Mendocino having been so recently settled, 
few of the orchards have yet attained to any great size. There were 
raised in this county, during the year 1867, 20, 000 bushels of wheat, 
65, 000 of barley, and 260, 000 of oats. It contains seven grist-mills, at 
which there were manufactured 14,000 barrels of flour — a sufficiency 
for home consumption, considerable quantities of potatoes, butter, 
cheese, eggs, lard, ham and bacon, are also produced in this county, 
the soil and climate being peculiarly well adapted for the culture of the 
potato, while the abundant pasturage causes the cows to yield much 
milk, and the mast afforded by the wide range of oak-forests supply a 
cheap and nourishing feed for the hogs, imparting to their flesh an 
excellent flavor. The produce from the southern part of the county, is 
sent to San Francisco and Sacramento, by way of Sonoma ; that from 
the more northern districts being shipped by sea. A good road was 
completed in the fall of 1867, between TJkiah and Lakeport, a distance 
of twenty-four miles, which, by establishing wagon communication be- 
tween this valley and the routes leading to San Francisco, has greatly 
promoted the interests and convenience of the inhabitants, the develop- 
ment of the agricultural resources of this section of the county having 
been retarded through a want of wagon-roads. 

Though its boundaries were prescribed as early as 1850, Mendo- 
cino, owing to the sparseness of its population, was not organized as a 
county until 1859, it having in the interim been attached to Sonoma 
for legal and judicial purposes. Besides its isolated position, pro- 
tracted and harassing wars with the Indians, who, after committing 
depredations on the whites fled to the mountains and wilderness be- 
yond the reach of their pursuers, have operated to delay the settlement 
of this coimty. The Federal Government has at length succeeded in 



COUNTIES OF CAUFOKKCA. 195 

collecting tlie remaining Indians on two large reservations — tlie one at 
Hound valley, in the north-eastern part of the county, and the other on 
Noyo river, on the coast near the middle of the county. These reserv- 
ations contain upward of 100,000 acres of good land, on which the 
Iiidians, under white supervision, raise enough grain and vegetables 
for their own support. These hostile tribes are now so thoroughly 
subjugated, not only in this but throughout the other northern coast 
counties, as to be no longer a cause of alarm to the whites, whose 
number has considerably increased since the savages were gathered 
upon these reservations. In 1860, there were only 1,498 white inhabi- 
tants in this county; at the close of 1867, there were 8,176, including 
2, 500 children under fifteen years of age. 

Ilkiah City, the cotmty seat, is situated on the main Kussian river, 
on a beautiful vindulating plain, well timbered with oaks and willows, 
and sheltered on the east and west by lofty mountains. Three hand- 
some rivulets, flowing from Potter's, Little Lake and "Walker's valleys, 
empty into Eussian river just below the town, the scenery in the neigh- 
borhood being wonderfully bold and picturesque. The place derives 
its name from the Eukio, or Yukio tribe of Indians, who dwelt in the 
valley when it was first discovered. It is the trade center of an exten- 
sive agricultural district, the importance of which will be much en- 
hanced when it comes to be connected with Napa valley by means of a 
railroad, which it is thought may be effected in the course of a few 
years. The town, having a population of about four hxmdred, contains 
several good brick and stone stores, a neat court house, with a school- 
house, church and other public buildings. Land is cheap in the cen- 
tral and northern portions of this county — the price of good improved 
farms varying from five dollars to twenty dollars per acre. 

Mendocino' City, the most important coast town in the county, 
stands on the north shore of Mendocino bay, at the mouth of Big river, 
or Eio Grande, one hundred and twenty-eight miles northwest from San 
Prancisco, in the midst of the most extensive redwood forests on the 
Pacific coast. Besides being a shipping point for large quantities of 
lumber, it is the outlet for a large area of open country lying east of 
the heavy timber belt known as the Bald mountain, a portion of which 
extends for several miles along Big river, and also for nearly twenty 
valleys lying in that quarter, most of which are connected with this 
point by wagon roads. Mendocino, which has a good depth of water 
and convenient wharves, contains four hundred and seventy inhabi- 
tants, being the most populous town in the county. \ 

There are known to be valuable deposits of minerals and metals in 



196 THE NATXJEAL WEALTH OP CALIFOIINIA. 

this coimtj, thougla little has yet been done to-^vards their development. 
In 1864, a ledge of partially decomposed auriferous quartz was discov- 
ered in the mountains near Ukiah City, and from which the discoverer 
extracted several thousand dollars. In November, 1867, further dis- 
coveries of gold bearing quartz were made in the mountains, thirty 
miles northeast of Ukiah. In October of the same year, samples of ore 
taken from an argentiferous lode found on Eel river, yielded, by work- 
ing test made in San Francisco, at the rate of §49 50 per ton — several 
auriferous lodes and some placer diggings, having been found in the 
same vicinity. In 1863-4 considerable placer mining was carried on 
in the neighborhood of Calpella, eight miles north of Ukiah, other 
mines of this class having also been worked on the north fork of Big 
river, twenty miles from Mendocino City, as well as still further north, 
about the base of the Yalloballey mountain, in Trinity county; and when 
it is considered that the same range in which the rich placer mines of 
Trinity are situated extends south into Mendocino, there is good rea- 
son to believe that still further and more important discoveries will yet 
be made in this county also. 

Copper ores have been met with at several points in this county, the 
more promising deposits being in the hills near Coyote valley, eight 
miles north and fifteen miles north-east of Ukiah — in Potter's valley, 
Walker's valley, etc. Petroleum springs are found at several places in 
the county, many of the settlers collecting it from the surface of the 
pools, and burning it without any purification. At Punta Arenas, 
where this substance exudes from a sandy shale on the sea shore, a con- 
siderable amoimt of money was expended, in the spring of 1865, in seek- 
ing after more permanent deposits, but without any marked success. 
Sulphur and salt are common minerals in the countj^, and hot springs 
are numerous. Within half a mile of the county seat, there is a spring 
of natural soda water, which, if situated in a more populous district, 
or near a large city might be made to yield a handsome income. 



NORTHERN COUNTIES. 
HUMBOLDT COUNTV. 



Humboldt county was organized in 1853, from portions of Trinity 
and Mendocino counties, and is named after the famous ' German 
savant j^nd traveler, Baron von Humboldt. Cape Mendocino, the most 
western portion of the State, lies near the center of the county on 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOKNU. 197 

its western border. Humboldt county is bounded on the north by 
Klamath, on the east by Trinity, on the south by Mendocino, and on 
the west by the Pacific ocean. It is fifty-six miles long, north and 
south, and fifty miles wide, containing 1, 800, 000 acres of land, of which 
about 500, 000 are suited to agricultural, and 300, 000 to grazing pur- 
poses, there being about 5,000 acres of swamp or overflowed land near 
tide-water. Much of the county is covered with the outlying spurs 
and more westerly ranges of the coast mountains, which, near the 
coast, are clothed with heavy forests of redwood, spruce, and pine. 
The timber-belt, varying in width from eight to ten miles, recedes 
from the coast, in some places in this county, a distance of several 
miles, leaving at these points an elevated terrace, or a sandy beach, 
destitute of timber. Humboldt bay, in the north-western part of the 
county, is a spacious, landlocked harbor, in which large-sized vessels 
may enter and lie with safety. This beautiful harbor, which has a 
good depth of water in most parts of it, is thirteen miles long and from 
one and a half to five miles wide, being narrow near the middle and 
expanding into a circular harbor at each end. It is popularly supposed 
that this bay was first discovered from sea in April, 1850, and by land 
in 1849 ; but it appears from a Eussian work, published in 1848, con- 
taining a chart on which it is laid down, and which purports to derive 
its information fz'om colonial documents of the Russian-American com- 
pany, that it was discovered by citizens of the United States in 1806, 
an American vessel engaged in the fur-trade having entered it that 
year. The principal streams, discharging into the sea and bay within 
the limits of this covmty, are the Mattole, Bear, Eel, Elk, and Mad 
rivers. By the removal of obstructions near the mouth of Eel, it could 
probably be rendered navigable for some distance — a sloop of one 
hundred tons' burden having already passed up it for five miles ; small 
vessels also succeed in mnning up the Elk for several miles. None of 
the other streams mentioned are navigable or susceptible of being ren- 
dered so, nor do any of them expand into estuaries at their outlets, 
forming coves into which small vessels can enter and load, as in Men- 
docino county. 

The most westerly branch of the Coast Eange is rugged and broken 
within the limits of this county — Mount Pierce, one of its highest 
peaks, being 6,000 feet high. Cape Mendocino and "Ealse cape," six 
miles to the north, are formed by the projections of spurs, striking 
from the main Coast Eange at right angles. That forming "False cape" 
continuing inland, constitutes the divide between Eel and Bear valleys; 
the other uniting with and forming part of the buttress of Moxint 



196 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA. 

this county, thougli little has yet been clone to^a^ards their development. 
In 1864, a ledge of partially decomposed auriferovxs quartz Tvas discov- 
ered in the mountains near Ukiah City, and from which the discoverer 
extracted several thousand dollars. In November, 1867, further dis- 
coveries of gold bearing quartz were made in the mountains, thirty 
miles northeast of Ukiah. In October of the same year, samples of ore 
taken from an argentiferous lode found on Eel river, yielded, by work- 
ing test made in San Francisco, at the rate of $49 50 per ton — several 
auriferous lodes and some placer diggings, having been found in the 
same vicinity. In 1863-4 considerable placer mining was carried on 
in the neighborhood of Calpella, eight miles north of Ukiah, other 
mines of this class having also been Avorked on the north fork of Big 
river, twenty miles from Mendocino City, as well as still further north, 
about the base of the Yalloballey mountain, in Trinity county; and when 
it is considered that the same range in which the rich placer mines of 
Trinity are situated extends south into Mendocino, there is good rea- 
son to believe that still further and more important discoveries will yet 
be made in this county also. 

Copper ores have been met with at several points in this county, the 
more promising deposits being in the hills near Coyote valley, eight 
miles north and fifteen miles north-east of Ukiah — in Potter's valley, 
"Walker's valley, etc. Petroleum springs are found at several places in 
the county, many of the settlers collecting it from the surface of the 
pools, and burning it without any purification. At Punta Arenas, 
where this substance exudes from a sandy shale on the sea shore, a con- 
siderable amount of money was expended, in the spring of 1865, in seek- 
ing after more permanent deposits, but withoiit any marked success. 
Sulphur and salt are common minerals in the county, and hot springs 
are numerous. "Within half a mile of the county seat, there is a spring 
of natural soda water, which, if sitiiated in a more populous district, 
or near a large city might be made to yield a handsome income. 



NOETHEEN COUNTIES. 

HDHBOLDT COtlNTr. 



Humboldt county was organized in 1853, from portions of Trinity 
and Mendocino counties, and is named after the famous ' German 
savant i^nd traveler, Baron von Humboldt. Cape Mendocino, the most 
western portion of the State, lies near the center of the county on 



COUNTIES OP CALIFOENIA. 197 

its ■western border. Humboldt county is bounded on tlie north by 
Klamatli, on the east by Trinity, on the south by Mendocino, and on 
the west by the Pacific ocean. It is fifty-six miles long, north and 
south, and fifty miles wide, containing 1, 800, 000 acres of land, of which 
about 500,000 are suited to agricultural, and 300,000 to grazing pur- 
poses, there being about 5,000 acres of swamp or overflowed land near 
tide-water. Much of the county is covered with the outlying sjDurs 
and more westerly ranges of the coast mountains, which, near the 
coast, are clothed with heavy forests of redwood, spruce, and pine. 
The timber-belt, varying in width from eight to ten miles, recedes 
from the coast, in some places in this county, a distance of several 
miles, leaving at these points an elevated terrace, or a sandy beach, 
destitute of timber. Humboldt bay, in the north-western part of the 
county, is a spacious, landlocked harbor, in which large-sized vessels 
may enter and lie with safety. This beautiful harbor, which has a 
good depth of water in most parts of it, is thirteen miles long and from 
one and a half to five miles wide, being narrow near the middle and 
expanding into a circular harbor at each end. It is popularly supposed 
that this bay was first discovered from sea in April, 1850, and by land 
in 1849 ; but it appears from a Russian work, published in 1848, con- 
taining a chart on which it is laid down, and which purports to derive 
its information from colonial documents of the Eussian-American com- 
pany, that it was discovered by citizens of the United States in 1806, 
an American vessel engaged in the fur-trade having entered it that 
year. The principal streams, discharging into the sea and bay within 
the limits of this county, are the Mattole, Bear, Eel, Elk, and Mad 
rivers. By the removal of obstructions near the mouth of Eel, it could 
probably be rendered navigable for some distance — a sloop of one 
hundred tons' burden having already passed up it for five miles ; small 
vessels also succeed in running up the Elk for several miles. None of 
the other streams mentioned are navigable or susceptible of being ren- 
dered so, nor do any of them expand into estuaries at their outlets, 
forming coves into which small vessels can enter and load, as in Men- 
docino county. 

The most westerly branch of the Coast Eange is rugged and broken 
within the limits of this county — ^Mount Pierce, one of its highest 
peaks, being 6,000 feet high. Cape Mendocino and "False cape," six 
miles to the north, are formed by the projections of spurs, striking 
from the main Coast Eange at right angles. That forming "False cape" 
continuing inland, constitutes the divide between Eel and Bear valleys; 
the other uniting with and forming part of the buttress of Mount 



198 THE NATURAL WE-VLTH 0? CALIFOKNLV. 

Pierce. The more easterly ridge of the Coast Range, forming the 
boundary between this and Trinity county, also rises in some places 
to a considerable height; Mount Bailey, one of its peaks, being 
6, 357 feet high, while several lesser elevations attain an almost equal 
altitude. 

Interspersed among these several ridges and spurs of the coast 
mountains, are many fertile valleys, hilly districts and rolling prairies 
covered with the native grasses wild oats, and other vegetation, ren- 
dering them the favorite resort of bears, elk, deer, and other game ; 
presenting to the herdsman one of the finest pastoral regions in 
the State. The scenery here differs much from that met with further 
south, as well as in the Sierra Nevada. The mountains, though 
numerous and steep, are not so high or barren as there, while the 
forests, consisting of spruce and maple, have in most places a heavy 
undergrowth of wild shrubs, brambles, berry-bushes, and gigantic 
ferns. 

Diagonally across this wild and broken, but rich and beautiful 
region, run the Mad and Eel rivers, pursuing their course towards the 
north-west, about twenty miles apart, and entering the ocean — the for- 
mer about six miles north, and the latter seven miles soiith of Hum- 
boldt bay. Each of these streams has numerous small branches which 
serve to water a large expanse of country, and supply an extensive 
power for the propulsion of machinery, which will no doubt be largely 
availed of when the country is more fully settled. 

The valley of Mad river, and its tributary branches, contain much 
good land, a portion of which has been brought under cultivation 
during the past three years. Eel river valley, the largest in the county 
and which also contains a fair proportion of good land, has been 
settled to some extent. Its soil is productive, and especially well 
adapted to the growth of the cereals, potatoes, etc. Seventy bushels 
of wheats weighing sixty-one pounds to the bushel, and over one hun- 
dred bushels of oats weighing forty-four pounds to the bushel, are 
often produced to the acre, while fifteen tons of potatoes to the acre is 
not an unusual yield. Flax also grows to a large size, jdelding two 
crops a year, with great weight of seed. The humid atmosjahere favors 
the growth of this and other textiles, rendering the stalk vigorous and 
the fibre heavy and strong. The salmon-fishery at the mouth of this 
river, is the most prolific in the State ; and the fish are said to have a 
finer flavor than those caught either to the north or south of this point. 
The annual catch here, which ranges from eleven himdred to three 
thousand barrels, might be greatly enlarged were there more of a local 



COUNTIES 03? CALIFOENIA. 199 

consumption, or better facilities for shipping the fish to a market. At 
present, all sent away have to be hauled to Humboldt bay, at consider- 
able loss of time, risk, and expense. 

The settlers in Bear river valley, keep many cows, and engage quite 
extensively in butter and cheese-making, a branch of business largely 
carried on in some other parts of the county. The Bald hills, portiona 
of which lie adjacent to Bear valley, afford, throughout the entire year, 
an abundance of the most nutritious kinds of pasturage. 

The lofty headland of Cape Mendocino, projecting into the ocean, 
renders the climate along this part of the coast more cool and humid 
than it is further south ; the rainfall on Eel river, besides being more 
evenly distributed throughout the year, is nearly twice as great as at 
San Francisco, promoting vegetation and keeping the grass green most 
of the summer. A first-class lighthouse, recently erected on this cape, 
was nearly finished in the fall of 1867, during which year this structure 
no doubt would have been completed but for the wreck of the U. S. 
steamer Shubrick, which occurred near the spot, in October of that 
year, while engaged in transporting material for its use. 

The scenery in the vicinity of the cape is very fine, both marine and 
inland. Mount Pierce, with its rocky spurs piled up in wild confusion, 
extends to the famous headland. Among the rocks and reefs along the 
shore, covered with moss and algte, the waters seethe and foam, while 
the dark forests cast their shadows over the adjacent mountains. 

Humboldt bay is the center of an immense lumber trade, while on 
its shores quite a large amount of ship building is carried on. In 1867 
there were nine saw-mills in this county, and another of large capacity 
in course of construction. The following figures indicate the amount 
of lumber cut at the larger of these establishments during the year 
1867 : the Bay mill, Dolbeer & Carson proprietors, and Vance's miU, 
cut 5, 000, 000 feet of lumber each; two mills belonging to Jones and 
Kentfield, cut, the one five and the other 6,000,000 feet ; the several 
smaller mills, located in different parts of the county, cut, collectively, 
about 4,000,000 feet, making a total of 25,000,000 feet, besides which 
there were a large quantity of posts, shingles and other split lumber, 
sent from the county. These mills afford employment to nearly a thou- 
sand men, and steady freight for ten or twelve schooners of two 
hundred tons burden each, in transporting their lumber to San Fran- 
cisco. The most of these schooners were built on the bay. Vessels 
frequently load here for foreign ports, some of this lumber being 
shipped direct to China, Australia, the Sandwich islands, and Central 
and South America. 



200 THK NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOKNIA. 

General U. S. Grant -svas stationed at Fort Humboldt, at the liead 
of tills bay, in 1853-4, during M'laicli time he was promoted to a cajD- 
taincy. At that period there were numerous tribes of exceedingly war- 
like Indians in that region, who were finally subdued only after much 
hard fighting, and not until nearly three-foui'ths of them had been 
killed by the whites. The survivors have since been collected upon 
reservations, and for the past few years the settlers have been free from 
their molestations. Many of the Indian children having been trained 
up to habits of industrj^, make excellent herders and farmers. 

There is much good farming and grazing land, not only in the 
smaller valleys adjacent to Humboldt bay, but also in a region lying 
east of the timber belt known as the Bald hills, which, being covered 
with wild oats, clover and other grasses, afford immense quantities of 
pasturage. On this, a small number of sheep and cattle are now grazed, 
though vast herds might here feed and fatten almost without the care 
of man. Over fifty thousand pounds of wool were shipped from this 
county in 1867. Considerable quantities of butter and cheese were 
also produced, the most of which was required for home consumption. 

Mattole, a fertile valley lying to the south of Cape Mendocino is so 
sheltered from the prevailing westerly winds that its climate is several 
degrees warmer than that of the country to the north. Good crops of 
all kinds of grain, fruits and berries are easily raised in this valley, to 
which agricultural operations are mostly confined, the hills being de- 
voted to grazing. The Mattole river, abounding with salmon and other 
fish, after flowing through the valley with a rapid current, creating an 
extensive water power, enters the ocean ten miles south of the cape. 
There are about five himdred settlers in the valley, who have built up 
comfortable homes, with school-houses, churches, mills, and other 
evidences of progress and thrift. 

The want of good roads connecting this county with the great Sac- 
ramento valley, and with the country lying south, has greatly tended to 
retard its settlement — immigi-ants having no way of reaching it except 
by sea, which does not admit of their taking their families, flocks and 
farming implements with them without great trouble and expense. 
Recently the inhabitants have been considering the policy of extending 
county aid towards building roads leading in such directions as seemed 
most likely to facilitate immigration. The excellence of the climate, 
the abundance and cheapness of good land, and freedom from Mexican 
grants render this one of the most desirable regions open to settle- 
ment in the State. 

Eureka, the county seat of Humboldt, is situated on the east side of 



COUNTIES OF CALEFOEmA. 201 

tlie bay, six miles from its entrance. It is surrounded by a dense 
forest of redwood, and is the principal seat of the lumber trade and 
ship building on the bay. It was founded in 1851, is a thrifty and 
growing town of about sixteen hundred inhabitants, contains a flourish- 
ing academy, several good school-houses and churches, and numerous 
well-built private dwellings. In boring an Artesian well near this 
place, from which a copious supply of fresh water was obtained, though 
situated but a few hundred feet from the bay, the augur, at a depth of 
one hundred and forty-two feet, passed through the rotten trunk of a 
redwood tree. 

Areata, at the head of the bay, with which it is connected by means 
of a wharf two miles long, stands on a handsome plateau, sixty feet 
above tide water. It contains seven hundred inhabitants, and is the 
center of a considerable trade with the back country, and with the 
mining districts on the Klamath, Trinity, and Lower Salmon rivers, 
there being a good wagon road connecting it with Weaverville, the county 
seat of Trinity county. Many of the merchants own their own pack 
animals, with which they convey goods over routes not practicable for 
wagons, some of these leading over long routes through high and 
rugged mountains, in many places covered with gloomy forests. The 
land about Areata is extremely well adapted to the culture of potatoes, 
many of which, of an excellent quality, are raised and shipped to San 
Francisco. Two hundred thousand sacks (400, 000 bushels) of potatoes 
were sent from this county in 1867, one half of which were raised in 
Areata township. The average yield of these vegetables is at the rate 
of about two hundred and twenty bushels to the acre. 

Near the Mattole river ("Clear water," of the aborigines,) are nu- 
merous inflammable gas springs, which, on being ignited, form jets of 
flame several feet high that burn with brilliancy till extinguished by the 
wind or other accidental cause. One of these jets, discharging in the 
channel of the river, presents the singular appearance, when ignited, of a 
mass of flame issuing from a stream of water. Similar jets of less power 
occur on Bear and Mad rivers, and also in other localities in the neigh- 
borhood. Near these jets are found numerous springs of petroleum, 
some of them of considerable dimensions. The petroleum found here, 
(its most northern limit in the State) differs essentially in character and 
mode of occurrence from that found further south. Here the oil forms 
no asphaltum or other solid residuum. It either floats off in the water 
with which it is combined or evaporates entirely. The geological for- 
mation in which these jets and springs abound, or where the oil is found 
exuding from the ground, covers an area of nearly forty square miles. 



20S TKE NATURAL -WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

In 1864 a number of companies were organized for the purpose of 
obtaining oil from these springs or boring for new deposits. A quan- 
tity of surface oil of excellent quality was collected, but no flowing 
wells or otber deep deposits were obtained, tliough many wells were 
bored — the deepest to a depth of more than twelve hundred feet. After 
being diligently prosecuted for several years, operations were finally 
suspended in 1866, though there is little doubt but valuable deposits 
of this material exist in Humboldt county. 

Beds of coal of good quality have been found on the headwaters of 
Mad river, and in the upper part of Mattole valley, but the lack of 
roads for transporting it to a shipping point, and the absence of a homo 
market, have prevented any work being done to ascertain the extent of 
these deposits. 

TRINITY COXJNTY. 

This county, which derives its name from the principal stream flow- 
ing through it, is bounded by Klamath and Siskiyou on the north, by 
Shasta and Tehama on the east, by Mendocino on the south, and by 
Humboldt on the west. The principal industrial pursuit is gold 
mining, confined almost exclusively to the various branches of placer 
digging. The whole surface of the county is covered with chains of 
lofty mountains composed of granite and auriferous slates, the sides of 
which have been eroded into deep gulches and canons. Though the 
county covers an area of 2, 400 square miles — beiag eighty miles long 
and thirty miles wide — it contains scarcely more than ten or fifteen 
thousand acres of farming land, of which but three thousand five hun- 
drecl acres were under cultivation in 1867. The arable land is mostly 
confined to the valley of the Trinity river and its branches. In this 
and several smaller valleys are many fertile and well tilled patches of 
land which produce most of the grain, fruits and vegetables, and dairy 
products required for home consumption. The Trinity and Salmon 
mountains, separating this county from Shasta, reach so great an eleva- 
tion that some portions of them are covered with snow all summer. 
Parties attempting to cross them in the winter have often perished from 
the intense cold and the depth of the snow — the remains of some of 
these unfortunate travelers being found nearly every summer. 

The first white man who entered the territory now constituting this 
county was P. B. Pveading, then a hunter and trapper, who iu the spring 
of 1845 left Sutter's Fort with thirty men to trap for otter and beaver 
in these mountains. Ai-riving upon a large stream it was named the 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 203 

Trinity, imder the supposition tliat it emptied into Trinidad bay, a3 
laid down on the old Spanish charts. 

On the discovery of gold, Eeading, who had meantime remained in 
the country, again visited this mountainous region, taking with him a 
party of sixty Indians, through whose aid he obtained a large amount 
of gold on Trinity river— Readings bar, on that stream, being named 
after him. Since that period this gentleman has resided on an exten- 
sive farm owned by him in the upper Sacramento valley. 

Trinity river, the only large stream in the county, rises in Scott's 
mountain, and receiving many small tributaries on its course, after 
running first southwest and then northwest, empties into the Klamath, 
of which it forms the largest branch. 

The mountains throughout this county, which are covered for the 
most part with pine, spruce, maple, fir and oak timber, abound with 
game — some portions of them containing considerable quantities of 
grass and other herbage. There are fourteen small saw mills scattered 
over the county. They are all run by water, and cut an aggregate of 
about one and a quarter million feet of lumber annually — the whole 
for local use. 

The population of Trinity county, numbering 5,125 in 1860, had 
been reduced to less than 4,000 at the close of 1867. A good wagon 
road has been constructed connecting "Weaverville, the county seat, 
with the Sacramento valley on the east, and also, one running to Hum- 
boldt bay on the west. This town is situated in a pleasant valley near 
the confluence of Weaver creek and Garden gulch, on a flat hnown to 
be rich in gold. It is nearly three thousand feet above the sea level, 
and is surrounded with mountains, portions of which are covered with 
eternal snow. It derives its name, as does also the creels: mentioned, 
from a miner named Weaver, who at an early period obtained a large 
quantity of gold from the latter. The town is handsomely laid out and 
well built up. Many of the dwellings have gardens, vineyards and 
fruit trees planted about them, indicating a high degree of comfort 
among the inhabitants. The population, which at one time numbered 
1,800, is now much less. This place, since founded, has suffered 
severely from fires and floods, having been nearly destroyed four times 
by the former, and twice greatly damaged by the latter, and like many 
other mountain towns, is now gradually decaying as the diggings in the 
vicinity become exhausted. 

Trinity was at one time a very prolific mining county, the annual 
yield of its placers having for several years in succession reached over 
$1,000,000. This class of mines is still yielding fairly, the average 



204: THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF C.ALIFOENIA. 

earnings of tlie mining population being, perhaps, equal to those of 
any other county in the State. There are also many auriferous qiiartz 
lodes in Trinity of great supposed value — few of them having been 
thoroughly prospected — while no attempt at working them on an exten- 
sive scale has as yet been made. The rugged nature of the country 
in which these lodes are situated, and the want of local roads have 
done much towards preventing heavy machinery being taken into this 
county, and consequently towards delaying the development of this 
class of mines. There are forty-five main ditches in the county, aggre- 
gating one hundred and fifty miles in length, constructed for the pur- 
pose of conducting water to points where used for washing. The cost 
of these works amounts in the aggregate to about $225,000, many of 
them having paid, as some still do, good interest on the investment. 

KLAMATH COUNTY. 

Klamath county is bounded by Del Norte on the north, by Del 
Norte and Siskiyou on the east, by Trinity and Humboldt on the south, 
and by the Pacific ocean on the west. It is about forty-five miles long, 
east and west, and forty miles wide. Its topography is similar to that 
of Trinity county, already described — almost the entire area consisting 
of steep, lofty mountains, separated from each other by deep ravines, 
their sides eroded by innumerable gulches and caiions. Through these 
depressions flow streams of greater or less magnitude, accordingly as 
swollen by the melting of the snow in the spring and summer. There 
is but little agricultural or meadow land in this county, the rivers and 
creeks running through steep narrow gorges, preventing the formation 
of alluvial bottoms along them. There is scarcely any arable land 
along the Klamath river, though it runs, with its windings, a distance 
of more than sixty miles within the limits of the county. The total 
amount of land under cultivation does not exceed two or three thousand 
acres. Hoopa valley, about thirty miles long and two wide, situated 
at the junction of the Trinity and Klamath rivers, contains the largest 
body of good land in the county, but it is not much cultivated, being 
the site of an Indian reservation. Many portions of the mountains and 
the country towards the sea are well timbered with spruce, fir, pine, 
cedar and redwood, the latter being confined to a belt eight or ten 
miles wide near the coast, where some of these trees attain gigantic 
proportions. There are seven saw mills in the county, which made 
during the year 1867 over 2,000,000 feet of lumber, more than half 
of which was cut by the Trinidad mill, on Trinidad bay, whence the 
most of it was shipped abroad. The only grist mill in Klamath is on 



COUNTIES OF CALIFORNIA. 205 

(he Indian reservation, being tlie property of tlie United States gov- 
ernment. A strip of country about jSve miles wide and twenty long, 
lying near tlie coast between Trinidad and Humboldt, comprises nearly 
all the level land in tlie county — tbe most of it, however, being heavily 
timbered, but little has been brought under tillage. To the east of the 
redwood timber belt lies a portion of the Bald hills, already described. 

Placer mining constitutes the leading pursuit of the population of 
Klamath, though there are many lodes of gold bearing quartz in differ- 
ent parts of the county, some of which have been sufficiently pros- 
pected to demonstrate that they would pay well for working. In 1861 
there were twelve quartz mills along the banks of Salmon river, there 
being numerous valuable quartz veins in this vicinity. The most of 
these mills having been destroyed by the flood of 1862, they have not 
since been rebuilt, leaving but three at present in the county. Klam- 
ath contains a number of small ditches, aggregating about one hundred 
miles in length, and costing $130, 000. Gold Bluff, the discovery of 
which led to much speculation and excitement in the spring of 1851, 
and where the branch of mining known as beach washing has for many 
years been carried on, is situated in this county. 

Klamath county is situated wholly to the west of the main Coast 
Eange, which here makes a broad deflection to the east. The Salmon 
river mountains, dividing the Salmon from the Klamath river, are a 
broad broken range, running northwest and southeast, reaching an 
altitude, in some places, of perpetual snow. The principal rivers are 
the Klamath, Trinity, Salmon and Eedwood. The county derives its 
name from the first mentioned stream, signifying in the Indian tongue 
' ' swiftness. " This river heads in a series of large lakes situated on the 
confines of Oregon and California, and after pursuing a devious course 
through Siskiyou, Del Norte and Klamath counties, enters the ocean a 
little to the north of Gold Bluff. Once over the bar at its mouth, which, 
from its frequent shifting is difficult and dangerous of entrance, small 
steamers can run up forty miles, to its confluence with the Trinity, 
below which point it carries a volume of water equal to the Sacramento. 
Confined to a narrow, deep canon, this stream frequently rises to a 
great height, it having, during the flood of 1862, reached a stage one 
hundred and twenty feet above its ordinary level, at which time it car- 
ried off a wire suspension bridge ninety-seven feet above low water 
mark, and also swept away most of the soil and improvements on its 
banks. The mountains bordering this river reach a considerable alti- 
tude — Prospect and Plagstaff peaks being upwards of six thousand feet 
high, while some unnamed ridges are still more lofty. 



206 THE NATUE.\L WE.ULTH OF C.VLITOENIA.. 

The Trinity, Salmon and EedwoocI all take tlieir rise in the coast 
mountains, run northwest, and empty, the former two into the Klamath, 
and the latter into the Pacific ocean. Near the sources of the Salmon 
are the remains of an extinct volcano, an area of nearly two square 
miles being covered with lava, obsidian, and similar matter — their 
occurrence the more noticeable from being the only evidences of vol- 
canic action in this portion of the Coast Range. The rocks here are 
almost exclusively slate and granite, and this, like Trinity county, is 
without hot or mineral springs and deposits of sulphur or petroleum. 

Owing to its extremely rugged surface, but few wagon roads have 
been constructed in Klamath, most of the transportation being done 
with pack animals. During the winter, when the snow is deep, com- 
munication with the coast is kept up by snow-shoe express. 

The placer mines here not having been worked so extensively as in 
the coxTnties further east and south, pay better average wages, perhaps, 
than in any other part of the State. Many of the diggings, under the 
action of the floods, have also the further peculiarity of partially renew- 
ing themselves every year. Bars, worked out, are swept away, and new 
deposits formed, often affording \drgin diggings. AVater, in most local- 
ities, is also abundant, costing the miner but little. On the other hand, 
however, the country is difficult of access, the cost of living great, and 
operations much interrupted during the winter by reason of the cold 
and snow. 

The first mining done in this county was in the spring of 1850, at 
Orleans bar, now the county seat. The present population of Klamath 
does not exceed fifteen hundred, a much smaller number than it con- 
tained ten years ago. The climate here is subject to heavy fogs and 
dews during the summer and to excessive rains — snow, on the moun- 
tains — during the winter. The precipitation along this part of the 
coast, as well as to the north, is much greater than at points further 
south, the quantity of rain and snow almost equalling that falling in 
the Sierra Nevada. The storms of thunder and lightning that some- 
times occur among the higher peaks of the Coast Eange are grand and 
appalling, being often kej^t up continuously for many hours. 

The native tribes inliabiting this region, in common with those 
throughout the entire northern portion of the State, are large and well 
proportioned, but sullen, fierce and warlike, and being well armed, have 
given the settlers and miners much trouble ever since the first arrival 
of the latter in the country. These Indians are usually divided into 
three classes by the whites : the Coast, Klamath and Hoopa tribes — 
readily distinguished by their appearance and habits. The fii'st occupy 



COUNTIES OF CALIFORNIA. 207 

the southwestern portion of the county, alohg the sea coast, from MaiJ 
to Redwood river ; this tribe is nearly exterminated, the remnant left 
having greatly degenerated through intercourse with the whites. The 
Klamaths live in the mountains that border the main river from ita 
junction with the Trinity north into Oregon. In 1866 the various fam- 
ilies composing this tribe numbered two thousand warriors ; they are 
divided into the Mekares, or Upper, and the Weitchepecs, or Lower 
Klamaths. It was the former who, surprising Fremont's camp, in 1846, 
killed several of his party. 

The Hoopas had their rancherias in the valley that bears their 
name, and on the mountains adjacent. .A few hundred, mostly women 
and children, are all that is left of this tribe — which remnant has been 
collected and placed on the reservation in Hoopa valley. 

These northern races, besides being larger and more athletic, are 
of a lighter complexion than those in the interior and southern portions 
of the State, the men being well developed, and many of the women 
by no means ill-looking, though the latter greatly disfigure themselves, 
at least in the estimation of the whites, by tatooing their chins in a 
hideous manner. The males are well skilled in the use of fire arms, 
and dexterous in all the arts and devices of the chase. 

Gold Bluff, the discovery of which, in the spring of 1851, lead to one 
of those excitements culminating in sudden migratory movements, so 
common among the mining populations of California, is situated on 
the ocean beach, about fifteen miles south of the mouth of Klamath 
river, and twenty north of Trinidad bay. The bluff consists of a high 
sandy ridge or headland, against which the waves impinging, wear it 
slowly away. Mixed with the sand of which this bluff is composed are 
particles of fine gold, which, as the former is washed down by the action 
of the waves, are released, and mingling with the shore sand, forms the 
gold beach found at the foot of the bluff. 

Orleans Bar, a small town of about one hundred and twenty-five 
inhabitants, is situated on the Klamath river, sixty-five miles south- 
east of Trinidad, and is worthy of notice only as being the county seat. 

Trinidad, the only port in the county, contains about two hundred 
and fifty inhabitants. The town stands on a ridge, which, projecting 
south, shelters the harbor on the northwest. The port is an open road- 
stead, having deep water and good anchorage, but is exposed on the 
south and west. There are extensive wharves here, affording good 
accommodations for the increasing trade of the place. 

Auriferous lodes of large size and supposed value have been found 
at several jalaces in this county; and although the ores, so far as tested. 



208 THE NATURAL AVE.iLTH OF CALIFORMA. 

hare proved extremely rich, the lack of cheap transportation to a ship- 
ping point will probably prevent any extensive developments being 
made here for a long time. 

DEL NORTE COUNTY. 

This county, organized in 1857, occupies the extreme northwe^ern 
corner of the State, having Oregon on the north, Siskiyou county on 
the east, Klamath county on the south, and the Pacific ocean on the 
-west. It is about fifty miles long, east and west, and thirty miles wide. 
In its geographic and climatic features, Del Norte strongly resembles 
Trinity and Klamath counties,. already described. The Klamath river, 
running across its southwestern border, and Smith's river, flowing cen- 
trally through it, are the only considerable streams within its" limits. 
The entire southeastern part of the county is corrugated by a heavy 
chain of mountains, with numerous subordinate and parallel ranges, 
running northeast and southwest. There is also a similar tier of moun- 
tain ranges extending north and south, near the coast, the most west- 
erly about six hundred feet high, and the main ridge, further back, 
three thousand feet high. The most of the county is well timbered 
with redwood, spruce and pine. It contains a number of small fertile 
valleys and a considerable extent of rich prairies, together with three 
thousand five hundred acres of swamp and overflowed lands. The 
number of acres enclosed in 1867 amounted to about 8,000, of which 
3, 500 were under cultivation, the most of it being planted to wheat, of 
which grain there were about 16, 000 bushels raised, with 2, 000 of bar- 
ley and 9, 000 of oats. The yield of the cereals here is generally largo 
— wheat frequently turning out from thirty to forty bushels to the acre, 
and barley and oats much more. All the vegetables, dairy products 
and fruits required for the use of the inhabitants were also raised, the 
soil and climate being well suited to the growth of all these staples. 
Yines and berries also thrive with little care, and stock keep in good 
condition throughout the winter on what they can pick rimning at large. 
Several small flocks of sheep are grazed in the county — a few thousand 
pounds of wool being clipped every year. The horses and mules kept 
for draft niimber about 2, 000, with about an equal number of neat cattle. 
There are no quartz mills in this county, though it contains many auri- 
ferous veins of much promise, and placer mining is carried on with 
success along the Klamath river and several of its tributaries, and also 
on the headwaters of Althouse creek. For introducing water into 
these diggings fourteen small ditches have been constructed at an aggre- 
gate expense of about $60,000. "With additional water supplies the 



CO-JNTIES OF CAlIFOaNLV. 209 

product of the placers might be much increased, there being yet a 
large scope of these mines but partially exhausted. The county con- 
tains one grist mill, situated in Smith river valley, capable of grinding 
fifty barrels of flour daily, and fotir saw mills of small capacity, sit- 
uated in different localities, engaged in making lumber for local uses, 
there being none exported from the county. A good wagon road has 
been constructed, leading from Crescent City, the county seat, to Illinois 
valley, Oregon, a distance of forty-five miles. It cost $50,000, and 
serves for the conveyance of supplies to the Althouse and other dig- 
gings in southwestern Oregon. 

- A number of cupriferous lodes, some of them of good size and rich 
in metal, were discovered at a point about fifteen miles northeast of 
Crescent City, some ten or twelve years ago. Two or three of these 
were partially developed at the time, and several hundred tons of high 
grade ores taken out. Owing to their remoteness from market, however, 
and other unfavorable circumstances, but little has been done with 
these .mines for the j)ast ten years, though there is little doubt but they 
will ultimately prove valuable. It has recently been discovered that 
the croppings of some of these cupriferous lodes, consisting of mundic, 
are rich in free gold, forming deposits similar to those now being 
worked extensively and profitably in Placer, Amador and Calaveras 
counties. 

The only town of any size in this county is Crescent City, contain- 
ing a population of about five hundred, and, which being favorably 
situated on a small but safe harbor, the only one along this part of th(3 
coast, must ultimately become the shipping point for a large back 
country, insuring its future growth and importance. The entire popu- 
lation of the county amounts to about two thousand five hundred. 

SISKDfOU COUNTY. 

This county occupies the northeastern corner of the State, being 
bounded on the north by Oregon, on the east by the State of Nevada, 
on the south by Lassen, Shasta and Trinity, and on the west by Klamath 
and Del Norte counties — its length, east and west, being one hundred 
and sixty, and its width, fifty-eight miles. It contains 5, 300, 000 acres, 
of which 250, 000 are adapted to agriculture. In the year 1867 there 
were 50,000 acres of land enclosed, and 20.000 under cultivation. 
About 1,000,000 acres are covered with valuable forests, and nearly half 
as much more by several large lakes, of which Goose, Bhett and "Wright 
are the principal. A large proportion of the county consists of rugged 
mountains, deep canons and elevated, barren table lands. Mount 
14 



210 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF C.U:,IFORNIA. 

Shasta, situated in the soutli-n'estem part of the county, at the junction 
of the Sierra Nevada and Coast Eanges of mountains, reaches an alti- 
tude of foiirteen thoxisand four hundred and forty feet. 

The Klamath, Pitt and Scott's rivers are the only large streams 
flowing through the county. The former has its source in the Lower 
Klamath lake, situated partl}^ in California and partly in Oregon, issu- 
ing from the southwestern side of which, near its middle, it flows in a 
westerly course until it enters Del Norte county. Scott river rises in 
the Scott range of mountains, runs northerly and joins the Klamath, 
near the western border of the county. Pitt river issues, a large stream, 
from the south end of Goose lake, runs southwesterly through Shasta 
county, until it unites with the Sacramento, forming the principal branch 
of that river. A large scope of country lying near the central and 
northern part of this county is without any surface drainage to the 
ocean, the water being collected in lakes, ponds and lagoons, whence it 
escapes by evaporation or subterranean channels. 

The princiijal agricultural 'lands in the county are located in Scott, 
Shasta and Surprise valleys, the former two lying in its western, and the 
latter in its extreme northeastern part. There are many other valleys 
of small size containing a little good land, besides a limited quantity on 
some of the table lands found in the northern and eastern sections of 
the county — these latter also afibrding a considerable amount of pas- 
turage. Scott's valley, forty miles long and seven miles wide, lying 
between the Trinity and Salmon mountains, which reach a height of six 
thousand feet, contains a largo body of excellent land, nearly all of 
which is under cultivation. Grain, fruits and A-egetables of nearly 
every description, are grown here without trouble, and generally yield 
well. The average peld of the wheat harvest of 1867 was twenty-five 
bushels x^er acre, some fields turning out as high as forty-five bushels 
to the acre. There are eight grist mills in the valley and its connect- 
ing branches, which, during the year 1867, manufactured seventy thou- 
sand barrels of flour. The product of these mills was greatly esteemed 
for its excellence, owing to the superior quality of the grain. Owing 
to the elevation of this county, nearly three thousand feet above the 
level of the sea, the harvests are late, the gi-ain not being reaped until 
August or September. Frosts are freqiient during the spring, and even 
in the summer months. The weather in the summer is warm, with cool 
nights; in the winter, often severe, especially on the mountains, where 
the snow falls to a great depth. Snow also lies to the depth of a foot 
or two, often for several weeks, in most of the valleys, rendering the 
■use of snow shoes and sleighs a general necessity. The mountain. 



CODNTIES OV CjVLIFOEKIA. 21] 

river and valley derive their name from a liunter and prospector named 
Scott, who first entered the latter in the spring of 1849. 

Surprise valley, lying in the extreme northeastern corner of the 
county, and partly in the State of Nevada, is about sixty miles long and 
fifteen wide. It is one of the most beautiful and fertile of all the val- 
leys lying in the high Sierra, being skirted on two sides with lofty, tim- 
bered mountains, and containing large tracts of fertile land, watered by 
numerous springs and streams, and covered with a luxuriant growth of 
wild clover and other grasses. On the east side of this valley are three 
beautiful lakes, extending in a chain nearly its whole length and cover- 
ing more than one half of its surface. The upper or most northern of 
these lakes is sixteen miles long and five wide ; the central one is 
twenty miles long by about three miles wide, and the southern and low- 
est fifteen miles long and three miles wide. Neither of these lakes have 
any outlet, though each receives the waters of a number of streams 
flowing from the mountains on the west. They contain no fish, though 
trout are found in the mountain streams running into them. At certain 
seasons of the year the whole valley swarms with ducks, geese, cranes, 
pelicans, and other wild fowl. All the land suitable for farming lies 
on the west side of these lakes, consisting of a strip of rich black loam, 
from two to six miles wide, gently sloping to their borders. Where 
not under cultivation, this land is matted with wild pea vines, grass 
and clover, so rank that it is often difficult to ride through it. This 
valley is said to have been known to Califomians since 1852, but derives 
its name from the surprise its discovery caused a party from the State 
of Nevada, who came upon it while in pursuit of a band of mau.rading 
Indians, in the spring of 1861. It was supposed to be within the 
limits of that State until the establishment of the boundary a few 
years since showed it to lie mostly in California. This valley was first 
settled in 1866, when a small company entered it and located a number 
of land claims. Since then other settlers have gone there — the popu- 
lation now amounting to three or four hundred. At Fort Bidwell, 
situated on a handsome eminence at the north end of the valley, over- 
looking a large portion of it, a small garrison of soldiers is stationed, 
to protect the inhabitants against the Indians in the vicinity, who have 
always been troublesome. A grist mill and saw-mill have been erectecl 
in tlie valley, for the accommodation of the settlers. Several thousand 
acres of land have been enclosed, and part of it placed under culti- 
vation — -the cereals here yielding remarkably well. A market for the 
products of the farmer is fouL.d in the O^Tyhee and Humboldt mines — 
the former distant about two hundred miles, in an easterly, and the 



212 THE NATURAL 'WEALTH 07 CALIFOEjnA. 

latter ono hundred and tliirtj' miles, in a southeasterly direction. Tho 
garrison at the fort, while it shall remain, will also take a portion of 
these products, and the Black Kock mines, lying iiftj' miles south, will 
create a further opening for them, should tho lodes there prove valu- 
able. Thei-e is also a good prospect that both quartz and placer mines 
will yet be found at no great distance to the north of this point, in 
Oregon. 

Fort Bidwell, erected in 18G5, occupies a commanding site at the 
north end of the valley. "Willow creek, a large stream of pure water, 
flows by it, and situated a few rods above the post, is a large boiling 
spring, the waters of which, besides being useful for bathing pui-poses, 
could be advantageously employed for irrigation. The moimtain 
ravines and slopes, lying two or three miles west of the main road lead- 
ing through the valley, are timbered with pine, fir and cedar, affording 
fuel and all needed material for fencing and lumber. The climate 
here is similar to that of the other elevated valleys of California — the 
days warm, with cool nights, in the summer — the winters cold, with 
deep snow on the mountains, and but little in the vallej-s ; the weather 
throughout the rest of the year being generally diy, and the tempera- 
ture delightful. 

Goose lake, thirty miles long and ten wide, is situated eight miles 
west of Surprise valley — a low range of mountains lying between them. 
The valley of this lake contains a large body of fine timber and between 
thirty and forty thousand acres of excellent farming and grazing lands, 
but it is without settlers ; its remoteness, the hostile character of the 
surrounding Indians, and the absence of rich mineral deposits, having 
thus far deterred the whites from locating in it. 

Pitt river, carrying a hea^-y body of water, debouches from the 
south end of Goose lake, and, pursuing a southerly course, flows for 
fifteen miles through a desolate plateau covered with large boulders 
and masses of blackened lava, known as the "Devil's Garden," at the 
end of which it rushes, roaring and foaming, through a deep defile, 
named, from its wild and rugged aspect, " the DevU's canon." Emerg- 
ing from this gorge, it meanders quietly through Spring valley, so called 
becaiise of a deep x^ool of hot water situated on its banks, which, agi- 
tated by the chemical action going on in its subterranean chambers, 
throws up a volume of water as large as a hogshead to a height of ten 
feet, which falls back into a large circular basin with the noise of a 
mountain cascade. The country adjacent to Pitt river, and, with few 
exceptions, the immediate valley of tho stream itself, is for the most 
part an arid, barren and timberless region. There is, however, some 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOKm. 213 

good land along the river, in the southern part of the county, where 
also the juniper and cedar attain a size making them serviceable for 
fuel. 

Fall river, a large stream having its soiirce in a group of immense 
springs at the eastern base of Mount Shasta, flows through a lissm-e- 
lilce channel, pursuing a singularly devious course for a distance of 
sixty miles, when it empties into Pitt river. 

Moimt Shasta, in its isolation the gi-andest peak, and for a long time 
supposed the loftiest mountain in the State, is situated in the south- 
westerly part of this county. It reaches an altitude of fourteen thou- 
sand four hundred and forty feet, its apparent height being somewhat 
diminished by the general elevation of the country and the many lofty 
peaks and ranges that surround it. For four or five thousand feet 
below its summit it is covered with snow at all seasons of the year — 
this being the only mountain in the State that remains snow-clad for 
any considerable distance below its summit throughout the entire year, 
Lassen's Peak, the Downieville Buttes, and all the other more lofty 
points in the State losing their snow late in the summer, except 
where it has drifted into deep ravines or lies under the shadow of cliffs 
on their noi-thern slopes. The base of this mountain is covered, except 
on the aiorth, to the height of between seven and eight thousand feet, 
with heavy forests of sugar and pitch pine. On its northern slope, 
owing to the poverty of the soil, the only trees found consist of a growth 
of stunted cedar and oak. Scattered through the higher parts of this 
heavy timber belt occur patches of chaparral, which, being indicative 
of a barren soil, are locally known as the "Devil's acres." Up to an 
altitude of seven thousand feet, the trees are of the usual dimensions ; 
at eight thousand feet, forest trees disappear entirely, a few stunted and 
hardy shrubs struggling for existence up to the height of about nine 
thousand feet, between which and the line of perpetual snow, scarcely 
a moss or lichen is to be seen. Above the latter point, and reaching 
to an altitude of twelve thousand feet, the only sign of life met with is 
a low form of vegetable of a vermillion color, which, generated in and 
staining the snow, causes this belt to be known as the "red snow." 
Above the fields of this most primitive vegetation, the cone of tlie 
mountain lifts itself — a glittering pavilion of untarnished snow. The 
best season for ascending the mountain is in the month of July or 
August. Earlier than July the snow is not sufficiently gone — while, 
towards the end of the summer, the fires, common in the forests, fill 
the air with smoke, interfering with and often completely destroying 
the view. The ascent is made from the west side, and until a height 



214 THE NATURAL 'WEALTH OF CALDrORNLV. 

of twelve tliousand feet is readied is attended •with no other difficulty 
than that always incident to the attenuated condition of the atmosphere 
at similar elevations. Above twelve thousand feet the ascent becomes 
more steep and laborious, the slope of the mountain inclining at an 
angle varying from thirty to forty-five degrees. Three days are 
required to make the journey with comfort and satisfaction. The first 
night is spent near the line of pei-petual snow ; the next day is con- 
sumed in going to the top of the mountain and returning to the spot 
left in the morning, where the second night is passed — the balance of 
the descent being made the following day. A good suppty of blankets 
is required, as the temperature at this night-camp generally falls to the 
freezing point before morning. At an elevation of thirteen thousand 
two hundred and forty feet, a rudely circular, and nearly level space 
occurs, evidently the bottom of an ancient crater, one side of which 
having been broken away, a portion of its rim still remains, forming 
the summit of the mountain, which lifts itself one thousand two hun- 
dred and four feet above. On this level area are a number of orifices 
from which steam and sulphurous gases constantly escape — the feeble 
action of this solfatara being the only sui-viving manifestation of those 
stupendous forces that piled up the masses that form this extinct vol- 
cano. The thermometer, at midday, in summer, generally stands below 
the freezing point on the summit of the mountain. The air about its 
top is cold, even in the warmest weather, and is almost always in brisk 
circulation, the summit being frequently swept by strong gales that keep 
exposed portions of its sides denuded of snow. The outline of this 
mountain, from whatever side viewed, presents a nearly regular cone, 
the symmetry of which is somewhat marred, when observed from the 
southwest, by the interposition of the side cone, not two thousand feet 
lower than the main mountain, from which it stands wholly separated. 
No one has ever been on its top, it being steeper and more difficult of 
ascent than Shasta itself. The sky outline of the latter has a general 
inclination of about twenty-eight degrees on one side and of thirty-one 
degrees on the other, while the westerly slope of this side-cone inclines 
at about thirty-six degrees. While, as stated, certain exposed and 
rocky portions of the main mountain are denuded of snow, these bare 
spots disappear when viewed from a distance, the whole surface above 
the snow line seeming an unbroken sheet of white, distinctly separated 
from the dark belt of forest below. The entire mass of the mountain 
is of volcanic origin, the base consisting of trachitic lava and the more 
elevated portions of basaltic rock, there being but little scoria, ashes 
or other loose material to be seen, except near the summit, where there 



COTJIJTIES OF CALrFOEKI.1. 215 

is a heavy bed of volcanic breccia. Tliat this, however, as well as the 
adjacent cone, and many other peaks scattered over the country to the 
north, is wholly of volcanic origin, having been erupted from a crater- 
like orifice, admits of no doubt. The exact height of Mount Shasta, 
for a long time a somewhat mooted question, was a few years since 
definitely settled by the members of the State Geological Survey, in 
accordance with the figures above given. 

Near Elk valley, which affords some of the finest views of Mount 
Shasta, anywhere to be had, there are said to be numerous caves which, 
though never fully explored, are supposed to extend for a great distance 
under the lava formation that here marks the geology of the, country. 
Near Hurd's ranch there occurs also a very extensive cavern known as 
" Pluto's cave. " It consists of along gallery in some parts sixty feet 
high, and varying in width from twenty to fifty feet. The soil of Elk 
valley, composed mostly of volcanic sand, is barren and incap)able of 
sustaining any vegetation, except a few worthless shrubs. 

Shasta valley, like the Pitt valley, is a barren lava plain, contain- 
ing, however, a few fertile spots. Eising from this plain, which has 
an altitude of over three thousand feet, are numerous conical hills of 
volcanic origin, that impart to the region a wild and rugged aspect. 

There are many other mountains, valleys, caverns, and other natural 
objects and points of interest, in this extensive county, rendering it an 
attractive field to the scientific and curious. 

Notwithstanding so large a portion of Siskiyou is covered with 
sterile valleys and arid plateaus, there is still much good farming and 
grazing land within its limits, as well as a wide scope of valuable 
placers. Numerous promising quartz lodes have also been found in 
the western part of the county, some of which have been extensively 
and profitably worked. Without going into more details, the magni- 
tude of these several interests is sufiiciently indicated by the following 
statements : The value of the real and personal property in the county 
was last year estimated at $2,000,000; 50,000 acres of land were en- 
closed, and 20, 000 under cultivation. The number of acres planted to 
wheat were 3,500, producing 70,000 bushels ; barley, 1,200 acres, pro- 
ducing 25,000 bushels ; and of oats, 3,000 acres, producing 80,000 
bushels. 

There are at this time six quartz mills in the county, carrying forty 
stamps, erected at an aggregate cost of $60,000 ; eight grist miUs, 
capable of grinding four hundred barrels of flour daily, and costing a 
total of $150,000; fifteen saw mills, with capacity to cut from two to 
four thousand feet of lumber, each, daily, built at an average expense of 



21G THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNTA. 

$6, 000. There are twenty-one ditches constructed for introducing water 
into the mines; these vary in length from three to eighty-five miles, and 
cost from one to three hundred thousand dollars each — the latter being 
the amount expended in the construction of the Shasta Eiver Oanal, 
built to carry the waters of that stream into the diggings about Yreka, 
and points further north, a distance of eighty-five miles. The present 
population of Siskiyou is estimated at six thousand, being somewhat 
less than it was eight or ten years ago. 

SHASTA COUNTY. 

This county derives its name from Mount Shasta, formerly situated 
within its limits, but thrown into Siskiyoii on the creation of the latter 
from a portion of Shasta, in 1852. Shasta is boimded on the north by 
Siskiyou, on the east by Lassen, on the south by Plumas and Tehama, 
and on the west by Trinity county. The county is watered by the Sac- 
ramento river and its numerous confluents, which, from a point near its 
southern border, radiate to its outer limits in every direction, render- 
ing it one of the best watered counties in the State. Eroded by the 
action of so many large streams, the surface of the country is greatly 
diversified by mountains, hills and valleys — some of the ridges between 
these water courses, forming outlying spurs from the Sierra Nevada on 
the east and the Coast Range on the west, being rugged and lofty. The 
main Sierra, trending northwest to form its junction with the coast 
mountains, crosses the eastern portion of the county, imparting to it a 
truly Alpine character. Standing in this range, and stretching two- 
thirds of the distance across the county, are four high peaks, severally 
named, Lassen's, Crater, Magee's, and Burney's peak, separated from 
each other by spaces of ten or twelve miles. They are all of volcanic 
origin, as are many other peaks and buttes in the vicinity, and else- 
where in the county. 

Lassen's Peak has four distinct summits, the highest of which has 
an altitude of ten thousand five hundred and seventy-seven feet, as 
determined by Messrs. Brewer and King, of the State Geological Sur- 
vey, who ascended it in 1863, and ascertained its height by careful 
measui-ement. These summits, rising from two hundred and fifty to 
three hundred and iifty feet above the common level of the mountain, 
are only the remaining portions of what was once the rim of the great 
crater, formed when this was an active volcano. Near the top of this 
mountain occur, as in the case of Mount Shasta, eiridences of long con- 
tinued solfatara action, which here has ceased many years since. 
Viewed from the north or south, this peak presents the shape of a flat- 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOKNU. 217 

ened dome, Tvliile, seen from the east or west, it lias the appearance of 
a very steep cone. It is timbered for about two thirds of the distance 
to its summit, which is covered with snow on its northern slopes a good 
portion of the year. ' Some of the cones to the north, both those along 
the line of the Sierra and others scattered over the volcanic table lands 
in this part of the county, present, in their outlines, steep, pointed 
ridges, while, in other cases, they have circular craters on the top, all 
indicating for them a common origin. They vary in height from six 
thousand to nine thousand feet, there being at a point five miles north 
of ■ Lassen's Peak a cluster of irregular truncated cones of less altitude, 
-and evidently of more recent formation, and which, between 1854 and 
1857, were constantly emitting large quantities of steam and gases. 
Numerous traces of well marked glacial action are found on Lassen's 
Peak, at an elevation of between six thousand and nine thousand feet. 
One of the best preserved craters in this region, so abounding with 
the remains of former volcanoes, is found near Butte creek, ten miles 
east of Fort Reading, where a cone, rising from the lava slope to a 
height of two thousand six hundred and thirty-three feet — eight hun- 
dred and fifty-six feet above its base — ^presents a well defined crater on 
its top, the rim about nine hundred yards in circumference and two 
hundred and twenty-five feet deep, nearly circular, remaining almost 
entirely perfect. 

With so many rivers and mountain torrents, the surface of this 
county is cut by numerous valleys, some of them devoid of alluvial 
deposits, while others contain a considerable scope of bottom lands 
along the margin of the streams, or spread out into broad flats or moun- 
tain meadows. The climate in these valleys, thoiigh Avarm in the sum- 
mer, is, throughout the balance of the year, mild and equable, snow 
and extreme cold weather being of rare occurrence even in the winter. 
That the temperatiiie does not fall to a very low point, is sho-\vn by the 
fact that not only the hardier fruits of the north, but also the fig, pom- 
egranate, cotton, almond, and other semi-tropical plants and fruits thrive 
here in the open air — Shasta being also one of the few counties in the 
State in which tobacco has been grown in notable quantities and of 
tolerable flavor. 

The entire northern and western portions of the county are covered 
with forests of conifers of nearly every variety, except the redwood, 
which is never found so far from the coast ; on the lower hills, scattered 
groves of live oak are common, with a species of ash along some of 
the streams. The eastern part of the county abounds in hot and boil- 
ing springs, several of which occur in " the vicinity of Lassen's Peak, 



218 THE natuejVL we^vltii of califorxlv. 

and are worthy of at least a passing notice. From one of tlie number, 
Icnown as tlio ' ' Steamboat Spring, " issues quite a stream of boiling 
water, while from numerous vents, scattered over several acres in the 
^■icinitJ, clouds of steam are constant^ escaping. In one place a steam 
jet issuing in a pool of hot water, throws it up to a height of seven or 
eight feet with a loud noise. Formerly this action was much more vio- 
lent than at present, the column of water being thrown to a height of 
over twenty feet. Two miles northwest of this spring, and nearly eight 
east of the summit of Lassen's Peak, is a pool of hot water six hun- 
dred feet long and three hundred wide, known as the "Boiling lake.' 
From this pool, the water, always kept at boiling point, issues in a 
stream about two feet wide and several inches deep. It is of a millcy 
color, and in places thickened almost to the consistency of cream. 
From this viscid material, es^oecially about the banks of the pond, 
where it has accumulated, jets of steam puff up, forming a sort of mud 
pustule, or minature volcano, from a few inches to three or four feet 
in height. Clouds of steam and sulphurous gases escape from crevices 
in the surrounding lava, which is slowly wasting away under their 
action. About four miles northwest of the Boiling lake are still more 
copious hot springs, their chemical action on the adjacent rocks being 
also much more extensive. They occur for half a mile along a caiion, 
and discharge a large volume of water. The neighborhood abounds in 
sulphur; this mineral, sublimated in the numerous cavities, crystalizing 
on the surrounding rocks in the most delicate and beautiful manner. 
Salt and sulphur springs occur in various parts of the county, some of 
the latter being considered valuable for their medicinal properties. 

An outcrop of coal of very fair quality has been found on Cow creek, 
whence it has been traced for eight or ten miles in a northwest direc- 
tion. This bed is composed of several strata, one of which has been 
opened to a considerable depth, and found to consist of about one foot 
of coal associated with several feet of shale. This coal has been tried 
by the blacksmiths in the neighborhood, and pronounced well suited 
for the uses of the forge. A coal vein has also been extensively opened 
near Bound mountain, and exhibits at the present time a very favor- 
able appearance. 

The population of this county is estimated at about six thousand, 
of whom one thousand two hundred are residents of the town of Shasta, 
the county seat. This is a lively place and has a considerable trade in 
the summer, being a supply point for a large scope of mining country 
to the north, east and west. It was at one time an active mining camp, 
but the exhaustion of the placers in the immediate vicinity has left it 



COUOTIES OF CALIFORNIA. 219 

dull in this respect — it still, liowever, presents a comfortable and invit- 
ing aspect, being full of gardens, orchards and vineyards, and contain- 
ing a number of well built private dwellings and public edifices. 
The settlement of some of the more remote agricultural valleys has 
been somewhat retarded by the hostility of the Indians, who have, in 
numerous instances, butchered whole families going into these locali- 
ties to settle at an early day. Efforts are now being made for the estab- 
lishment of an Indian reservation in this county, a measure that would 
probably benefit all parties, both the whites and the Indians. Scat- 
tered over about one thousand square miles of territory, comprised 
within the limits of Tehama, Shasta, Siskiyou and Lassen counties, are 
the following tribes of Indians : the Pitt river, Shasta, Hat creek, 
Pushus, Pah-Utahs, Antelopes, Nosers, Sacramentos, Tonatons and 
McClouds, embracing over two thousand souls in all, for whom no pro- 
vision has hitherto been made by the Indian Department of the Gov- 
ernment. The valleys and fisheries from which they formerly procured 
the most of their subsistence having been occupied entirely by the 
whites, renders it difficult for these people to longer sustain themselves 
upon the natural products of the earth, hence they are forced, in some 
cases, to depredate upon the whites, or suffer from the pangs of hun- 
ger. If they steal the property, or kill the stock of the settlers, the 
latter retaliate by shooting the Indians, who, in return, murder the 
whites whenever opportunity offers for them to do so with safety, and 
thus, a constant warfare is kept up to the great injury of both races. 
The plan of gathering these savages upon reservations, where, with 
good management, it is found they can be rendered self-sustaining, 
contributes not only to their comfort and safety, but also secures the 
whites against their further assaults and depredations. 

With so many fertile valleys, and a climate so genial, the agricultu- 
ral resources of Shasta, as will readily be sujpposed, are by no means 
inconsiderable. The number of acres of land enclosed, in this county, 
was estimated, in 1867, to be about 65, 000, of which 35, 000 were under 
cultivation ; 10, 000 acres, planted to wheat, yielded 150, 000 bushels ; 
7,000 acres, planted to barley, yielded 190,000 bushels ; and 2,000 
acres, planted to oats, yielded 50,000 bushels. Besides these cereals, 
Indian corn, rye and buckwheat are grown to some extent, as well as 
broom-corn and tobacco, with nearly every variety of fruits, vegetables 
and berries — much stock is also kept in the county, and considerable 
quantities of butter and cheese made every year. In 1866 Shasta con- 
tained one thousand nine hundred and forty-two mules, ranking next 



220 THE n.vtue.Uj ^ve.vltii of c.vlitokxu. 

to Yolo — the first county in this respect in the State. The number of 
sheep and hogs has multiplied rapidly during the past few years, ren- 
dering wool, pork and bacon important items in the products of the 
county. Besides several other small manufactories, Shasta counts a 
tannery and a i^ottery aniong her industrial establishments. There are 
two grist mills in the county, both driven by water; they have a daily 
capacit}' to make one hundred barrels of flour each — the cost of their 
joint construction being .?22, 000. Shasta contains twelve saw mills, 
capable of cutting from one thousand to six thousand feet of lumber, 
daily; all but two of these mills are propelled by water, the cost of each 
langing fi-om .$2,000 to 812,000. 

This county contained at one time a great extent of rich placer 
mines, and although the most of these are now pretty well worked out, 
there are still fair diggings in a number of localities, with a great many 
promising lodes of auriferous quartz. In the Pittsburg district, on 
McCloud's river, in the northern part of the county, a great number of 
veins were located in 1863, on the supposition that they contained val- 
uable deposits of copper ore, much of this metal being found in the 
croppings. Subsequent explorations having shown the presence also 
of gold and silver, the latter predominating in value, a large popula- 
tion was drawn into the district, and much Avork done, some of these 
lodes having since turned out to be valuable. Veins of similar char- 
acter have also been found on Cow creek and elsewhere in the county, 
indicating that vein mining, both for gold and silver, will yet become 
an active and profitable piu-suit therein. Already there are twelve 
quartz mills runnkig in the county, on rock yielding an average of over 
twenty dollars x^er ton by working process. There are also a good 
many arastras driven by horse power, and numbers of Mexicans make 
fair wages, crushing quartz with hand mortars, their earnings ranging 
from six to twenty dollars per day. Hydraulic washings are in success- 
ful operation at two or three points in the coiinty, and, as water is 
abundant, this mode of working is likely soon to be greatly extended. 
One half of the qiiartz mills are driven by steam and the other half by 
water ; they carry from four to eight stamps each, and cost, in the 
aggregate, about $100,000. Sixteen water ditches, besides distributing 
branches, have been built in the county. These works vary from two 
to fifty-three mdes in length, and in cost from 85,000 to 8140,000— 
the total sum expended in their construction being about 8400, 000. 



COUNTIES OF CALEFOENIA. 221 

LASSEN COUNTY. 

This county, erected in 1864 from tlie eastern parts of Plumas and 
Shasta counties, is named after Peter Lassen, an early explorer of the 
surrounding regions, and a pioneer settler in this part of California. 
It is bounded on the north by Siskiyou county, on the east by the State 
of Nevada, on the south by Sierra and Plumas, and on the west by Plu- 
mas and Shasta counties. For a long time, nearly the whole of this 
territory, together with the eastern part of Siskiyou county, was suc- 
cessively claimed, first by Utah, then by Nevada Territory, and finally 
by the State of Nevada, each of which, in turn, exercised jurisdiction 
over it until the year 1862, when the eastern boundary of California 
having been located to the east of it by a joint survey on the part of 
the two States, prevented a collision, already precipitated, from pro- 
ceeding to extremities between the authorities of Plumas and Eoop 
counties. 

Lassen county embraces within its limits a large area, about equally 
divided between rugged mountains, alkali flats and arid sage plains, 
the only considerable body of good land in it being that lying along 
and adjacent to Susan river, generally denominated Honey lake vaUey, 
witli a narrow strip in Long valley, further south. The mountains con- 
sist of the Sierra Nevada, which, trending northwest, strike across its 
southwestern border, forming a high barrier between this and Plumas 
county, and numerous straggling groups lying further north and east, 
the former well timbered with pine, spruce and fir, the latter contain- 
ing no trees except a few scattered groves of scrubby pitch pine, called 
in the Sjjanish, "pinon", and a species of dwarf juniper. This pifion, 
a low, bushy tree, about one foot in diameter at the butt, and twenty- 
five feet high, being of a firm fibre, and full of resinous matter, makes 
a valuable fuel, though not worth much fdr other purposes. The juni- 
per, or, as it is more commonly called, the cedar, being still smaller 
than tlie pine, and at the same time light and porous, is of little value, 
whether for fuel or lumber. 

This county, as well as the eastern part of Siskiyou, all of Alpine, 
Mono and Inyo counties, lying upon or being wholly to the east of the 
Sierra Nevada mountains, and within the rim of the Great Utah Basin, 
partakes largely of the features that characterize that elevated and gen- 
erally barren plateau, being marked by great aridity, vast stretches of 
alkali flats and sandy plains, clusters of desolate and broken hills, 
ranges of mountains alternating with narrow valleys, and a remark- 
able scarcity of animal and vegetable life. The only streams of any 



222 THE NATURAL VTCALTn OF CM.irOV.XLK. 

size consist of abrancli of Pitt river, in the northern part of the county; 
of Pine creelv, running into Eagle lake ; and of Susan river, heading in 
the Sierra, and running easterly into Honey lake, together with a stream 
flowing through Long valley from the south, and emptying into the same 
receptacle. Besides these, there are a number of small creeks running 
down from the mountains into Honey lake valley, affording ample 
means for irrigating the rich lands lying along its western border, close 
under the Sierra, as well as furnishing an extensive water power, their 
descent being veiy rapid. The most of these creeks sink after flowing 
a short distance out upon the plain, though one or two make their Avay 
across it, emptying into Susan river. 

There are two lakes in this county — ^Eagle lake, lying near its cen- 
ter, and Honey lake, in its southern part. The former, about twelve 
miles long and eight wide, is of very irregular outline, and no great 
depth ; the latter is of almost equally irregular shape, and still more 
shallow, having, in fact, within the past few years, nearly dried up. 
It receives its name from the quantities of honey-dew found on the 
grass and shrubbery in the vicinity. This substance is deposited by 
the honey-dew aphis, a species of bee sometimes found in dry and bar- 
ren countries. It is a sweetish, viscid liquid, resembling honey, and 
though never used by the whites, is gathered by the Indians, who, 
boiling the grass and twigs on which it is foiind, make a sort of mo- 
lasses, of which they are fond. 

Long valley, extending for more than forty miles through the south- 
ern part of the county, is a fine stock region, and, though but sparsely 
settled, there are usually several thousand head of cattle grazing in it — 
stock, as a general thing, doing well here, as is the case also in Honey 
lake valley throughout the winter, feeding upon the wild grasses, sage, 
gi-ease-wood and other herbage found growing in the valley and upon 
the adjacent hills. At long intervals, however, snow falls in these val- 
leys to the depth of twenty or thirty inches, causing much distress 
among the stock running at large — sometimes even destroying a portion 
of it. Usually the snow does not fall in the valleys to a depth of more 
than six or eight inches, and is of temporary duration; on the Sierra 
it alwaj's falls to a depth of many feet, and sometimes lies for several 
months on the interior ranges. 

Honey lake valley, first settled in 1857, contains about twenty thou- 
sand acres of fine farming and meadow lands, nearly the whole of which 
is enclosed, and at least one fifth of it under cultivation. About one 
thousand acres of wheat, one thousand five hundred of barley, and two 
hundred of oats were sown in 1867, which yielded respectively at tho 



COUNTIES OP CAXIFOENIA. 223 

rate of twenty-five, thirty and tLirty-tv,^o. bushels to the acre. Vege- 
tables of various kinds and superior quality are raised here, and the 
hardier fruits are also found to grow and mature without difficulty, 
apples of large size and fine flavor having been grown for several years 
past. Irrigation, for which there are the best of facilities, is, however, 
found necessary for perfecting 'the crops, both of vegetables and grain. 
The considerable elevation of this entire region, everywhere over four 
thousand feet above sea-level, rendering the seasons short, a resort to 
this aid becomes necessary to hasten the growth of vegetation. Honey 
lake valley has an altitude of four thousand two hundred feet, and Sum- 
mit lake, five thousand eight hundred feet, while many of the moun- 
tains within the limits of the county reach a height of more than seven 
tliousand feet. They are generally dry and sterile, containing nothing 
but a scanty growth of bunch grass, and a few stunted pines and juni- 
per trees. Like the rest of the coxmtry, they are nearly destitute of 
game, the only thing found to reward the labors of the hunter being 
hare, sage-hen, and an occasional deer. 

Hot springs occur at several points in the county, the most note- 
worthy of which consists of a group situated on the margin of Honey 
lake. One of these springs boils furiously, the hot water leaping sev- 
eral feet high. It is about twelve feet square, and so deep that its 
bottom has never been reached by sounding. The other springs in this 
group are not so hot, some of them only tepid. They are all more or 
less impregnated with mineral substances — the waters of one being 
chalybeate, of another, saline, alkaline or sulphurous. 

The population of Lassen amounts to about two thousand, six hun- 
dred of whom are residents of Susanville, the county seat. The value 
of the real and personal property in the county is estimated at $800, 000. 
It contains seven saw mills, all but one driven by water, erected at an 
aggregate cost of $60, 000, and having a daily capacity to cut from two 
thousand to fourteen thousand feet of lumber each ; two grist mills, 
both run by water, cost $12, 000, and together capable of making one 
hundred barrels of flour daily. The only water ditches in this county 
are such as have been built for purposes of irrigation ; the largest of 
the number, the "Willow creek ditch, is eight miles long, and cost 
$12,000. 

The mineral wealth of the region embraced within and lying adja- 
cent to Lassen county was, from an early day, siapposed to be great, 
much prospecting for silver having been carried on there before the dis- 
covery of the "Washoe mines. The extent to which this idea had ob- 
tained maybe inferred from the fact that it was while on an expedition in 



224 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CiVLLFOnNLV. 

searcli of silver mines supposed to exist to the northeast of Black Rock 
that the brave old pioneer, Peter Lassen, was killed by the Indians, in 
the spring of 1859. None of the explorations prosecuted in that quarter 
appear, however, to have resulted in any discoveries of value until the 
Black Book mines, lying some fifty miles northeast of Honey lake, were 
found, about two years ago. Two quar'tz mills have since been erected 
at that place both of which have been running on the silver ores 
obtained from the mines with varying success. That the ores are rich, 
and very abundant, seems pretty well established, though they are doubt- 
less of a very obstinate and intractable character. The disti'ict is but 
poorly supplied with wood and water, adding further to the difficulties 
in the way of a successful and economical treatment of the ores, which, 
should they really prove what is claimed for them, will have to be trans- 
ported to points where there are better facilities for their reduction 
than exist at these mines, before they can be worked on an extensive 
scale. The Central Pacific Railroad, when built up the Humboldt, 
will run within less than a hundred miles of Black Bock, whereby much 
cheaper transportation of the ores being insured than is now practi- 
cable, there is a prospect that these mines will be largely and profit- 
ably worked in the course of a year or two more. 

A good many claims were located, and considerable work done, on 
silver bearing lodes situated in the Sierra, west of Honey lake valley, as 
early as 1859, but as no extensive crushings have ever been made of the 
ores, nor enough work performed to prove the mines, their value remains 
undetermined — nothing having been done upon them since that early 
period. It is not known that any vein mines, or placers of importance, 
exist elsewhere in the county, though a good deal of prospecting for 
deposits of the precious metals has at different times been done. 



MOUNTAIN COUNTIES. 

PLUJLA.S COUNTY. 

Plumas county, so designated from the Bio de las Plumas, the Span- 
ish name of Feather river, which stream, and its affluents, ramify it 
in every direction, is bounded on the north by Shasta and Lassen coun- 
ties, on the east by Lassen, on the south by Sierra and Tuba counties, 
and on the west by Butte and Tehama counties. Its gi-eatest longitu- 
dinal axis extsnds southeast and northwest a distance of eighty -five 
miles, its transverse axis being about forty -five miles in length, giving 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 225 

to the county an area of about two tliousand square miles. Being 
deeply furrowed by tlie Feather river and its numerous tributaries, 
nearly tlie whole of the central and southwestern part of the county is 
divided into narrow canons separated by high ridges, the northeastern 
portions rising into the lofty Sierra which borders it in that direction. 
These canons vary in depth from five hundred to three thousand feet — ■ 
the gorge cut by the middle, fork of Feather river, which, rising east of 
the main Sierra, has worn a passage through that range, being one of 
the deepest and wildest in the State. The Middle Yuba has also 
eroded for itself an exceedingly deep channel — that stream, at Nelson's 
Point, being nearly four thousand feet below the top of Pilot peak, an 
isolated mountain in the neighborhood. This peak, situated in the 
southern part of the county, and which reaches an altitude of over six 
thousand feet, is of volcanic origin, its northern slope being walled 
with columnar basalt, and its summit capped with a bed of lava six 
hundred and fifty feet thick. The view from its top is extensive and 
grand. Spanish peak, an isolated knob of similar origin, lies about 
twenty miles to the northwest, there being several other mountaia 
peaks of lesser elevation in different parts of the county. 

The surface of Plumas is covered everywhere with a heavy growth 
of coniferous forests, consisting of sugar and yellow pine, red spruce, 
the white or balsam fir, cedar, etc., there being scarcely a better tim- 
bered region along the slope of the Sierra. These forests are more 
open and scattered in the western part of the county, growing more 
dense as the mountain is ascended, even to its very summit. The 
county contains no lakes, or even considerable ponds of water, though 
hot and mineral springs are met with in several localities. The low 
altitude of Beckworth's pass, lying in the southeastern part of the 
county, has encouraged the citizens of Plumas to take preliminary 
steps towards forming a company for the construction of a railroad 
through it. This road is to be carried up the middle fork of Feather 
river, and thence over the Sierra, through this pass, a route on which 
but little snow will be encountered in the winter, though somewhat cir- 
cuitous and leading through a broken and mountainous country. 

Notwithstanding its great elevation and the extremely rugged sur- 
face of the country, Pluma? county contains many fertile, well sheltered 
vaEeys and mountain meadows, admirably suited for agricultural and 
grazing purposes. The principal of these localities are American, 
Indian and Humbug valleys. Mountain Meadow and Big Meadow, Gen- 
esee, Long, Mohawk, Beckworth, Sierra, Eed Clover and Eound val- 
leys, nearly all lying in the northern and eastern part of the county and 
15 



226 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF aVLIFOIlXIA. 

on the upper tributaries of tlie Feather river. These valleys and mea- 
dows embrace in the aggregate nearly two hundred and fifty thousand 
acres of good land, and although the more tender fraits and vegetables 
are sometimes cut off by imseasonable fi-osts, good crops of the hardiei 
kinds are generally secured, while the cereals yield with certainty and 
abundance. Most of the valleys are covered with a luxuriant growth 
of natural grasses, the adjacent mountains. in some places also afford- 
ing much pasturage. For hay, timothy grass is cultivated, few depend- 
ing on the wild varieties for this article. In some instances irrigation 
is resorted to for securing a crop, though not generally. As a usual 
thing but little snow falls in these valleys, though it reaches a great 
depth every winter on the mountains. Cattle are the better for being 
housed and fed for a few weeks in the winter, though some seasons they 
scarcely require it. It is estimated that there are now over one hun- 
dred thousand acres of land under fence in this county, more than one 
half of which is planted to grain and vegetables. The principal cereals 
raised are wheat and oats, more than twenty thousand bushels of the 
former and one hundred thousand of the latter having been produced 
in 1867, a still larger yield being counted upon for the following year. 
The grain grown here is remarkably plump and heavy, the oats weigh- 
ing forty and the wheat over sixty pounds to the bushel. Small quan- 
tities of rye, buckwheat, Indian corn and barley are also successfully 
cultivated— only enough of the latter, however, beiag sown for brewing 
purposes. A considerable amount of stock is kept in. the county, over 
two thousand cows — enough butter and cheese being made for local con- 
sumption. Dairymen and stockgrowers in the lower counties are in the 
habit of driving their herds into the meadows that exist in the ujDper 
Sierra, and pasturing them there dui-ing the summer, retiirning them 
to the lower valleys when winter comes on. There are but few swine 
and no sheep, except such as are kept for the shambles, raised in the 
county. 

Owing to the abrapt character of the country, Plumas has hereto- 
fore been but illy supplied with wagon roads. A project recently set 
on foot is now being vigorously prosecuted for constructing a first-class 
toll road from Oroville to Quincy, the county seat, with branches to 
Indian and to American valley. The entire length of this road will be 
one hundred and thirty miles, and it is to be built with the lowgi-adient, 
for a mountain disti'ict, of four inches to the rod. Being confined 
mostly to the valley of Feather river, it lies below the deep snow line, 
securing it against serious impediment from the winter snows. The 
cost of this work is estimated at nearly three himdred thousand dollars. 



COUNTIES OF calif6ekia. 227 

towards which the county contributes eiglity thousand dollars. When 
coiaj)leted, it is expected that this improvement will, by cheapening 
transportation and travel, rapidly increase the population of the county 
and greatly promote the development of its mineral wealth, which, as 
regards both the precious and useful metals, is undoubtedly great. 

From an early day, placer mining, which is still extensively and 
profitably carried on, has been a lucrative pursuit in this county. For 
many years immense quantities of gold were taken out on the bars of 
Feather river and its tributaries, some of which continue to yield well, 
though the most of the dust now gathered comes from the hydraulic 
and tunnel claims, of which there are a large number being worked with 
good average, and, occasionally, with very large results. In its quartz 
veins Plumas has also a wide and prolific field of wealth, the average 
yield of these lodes, so far as tested, having been higher than in almost 
any other part of the State. The leading quartz districts, so far as 
active developments and the erection of mills are concerned, consist of 
Indian, Mohawk, and Genesee valleys — Greenville, Dixie, and Jamison 
creek. The Whitney lode, in Indian valley, is twenty feet wide, the 
vein matter, from wall to wall, composed of pay ore — not a pound being 
rejected— that yields by ordinary process fourteen dollars to the ton, 
besides a considerable percentage of rich sulphurets, saved for future 
treatment. The Crescent mine, in the same locality, worked since 1862, 
embraces a system of four ledges, which, by extensive explorations are 
shown to carry large quantities of ore — the results of five years' work- 
ings having ranged from fifteen to forty dollars per ton. The average 
yield for the year ending with June, 1867, was sixteen dollars per ton, 
the net earnings of the mine having been fifty thousand dollars during 
that year. The dividends to stockholders siace the opening of the mine 
have been over one hundred thousand dollars, besides earnings applied 
to defray current expenses and the erection of two first-class mills, car- 
rying an aggregate of fifty-six stamps. The lode of the Indian Valley 
Mining Company, like that last mentioned, has been worked steadily 
and profitably for a series of years ; and although other and even more 
notable examples of success might be cited, the foregoing will serve to 
illustrate the general character of the veins and grades of ore found in 
this county, which offers inducements second to no other in the State 
for the investment of capital iu this branch of mining. There are now 
twenty-six quartz mills in this county, carrying a total of three hundred 
stamps, and erected at an aggi-egate expense of $400,000, the individual 
cost ranging from $3,000 to $100,000, according to location and capa- 
city, the earliest built being more expensive, owing to higher prices of 



228 THE NATUE^VL WE.U.TH OF aU^IFOKNIA. 

labor and material, than those of recent date. There are one hundred 
and forty miles of water ditches in the county, constructed at a cost of 
not less than $350,000, the Spanish Creek ditch, alone, having cost 
$150, 000. There are twenty saw mills and two gi-ist mills, the most of 
them of moderate capacity. 

Besides its placers and veins of gold bearing quartz, Plumas con- 
tains many lodes rich in cupriferous ores, several of which had been 
extensively opened and were being worked with fair prospects of suc- 
cess, when the extreme depreciation of copper ores checked further pro- 
ceedings, though there is no doubt but with an improved market for 
this metal these lodes will be again worked more largely than ever 
before, and with remunerative results, as the ores are abundant, easily 
obtained, and many of them of an unusually high grade. Marble of 
fine quality, being beautifully variegated, and susceptible of high 
polish, abounds on the middle fork of Feather river, and a vein of 
coal has been found in Indian valley, the croppings of which have 
proved to be of a quality sufficiently good at least for domestic uses 
and the blacksmith's forge. The population of this county, estimated 
in 1866 at three thousand sis hundred and seventy, on the basis that the 
school children imder fifteen years of age constitute thirty per cent, of 
the inhabitants, is now believed to be at least foiu- thousand. 

SIEREA COUNTY. 

This county, which derives its name from the Sierra Nevada moun- 
tains that cross its eastern border, is boiinded as follows : Plumas 
county on the north, the State of Nevada ou the east, the county of 
Nevadf- on the south, and the counties of Yuba and Plumas on the west. 
The description already given of Plumas county will, in nearly all that 
relates to soil, climate, topography, timber, and other natural produc- 
tions, apply equally well to Sierra. There are, however, in the latter, 
a number of small lakes, with a scattering of scrubby oaks on the 
lower foothills, while the mountains here are scarcely so high, or the 
caiions so deep, as in Plumas. 

The principal streams flowing through Sierra consist of the north 
and middle forks of the Tuba, the former nmning centrally throiigh, 
and the latter forming the southern boundary of the coimty. In length, 
Sierra extends about fiftj' miles, east and west, by twenty miles, north 
and south — its area being not qtiite half that of Plumas — it also con- 
taining much less agricultural land than the latter. Situated on top of 
the Sierra Nevada mountains, where this range spreads out into broad 
flats and basin-like depressions, are a number of ponds and small lakes. 



COUNTIES OF CAXIFOKNIA. 229 

in one of wliicli, called Gold lake, about four miles long and two miles 
wide, the middle fork of Feather river has its main source, another 
branch of this stream heading in a smaller lake located in Sierra val- 
ley, eighteen miles further east. The most of these lakes are of circu- 
lar form, and from half a mile to a mile long, many being much smaller 
— not more than eight or ten rods over. Some of them are very deep, 
a hundred foot line having failed to reach the bottom of Gold lake. 
This locality is worthy of notice as being the spots visited by the first 
of those expeditions fitted out in California to search for supposed rich, 
but, as experience has shown, imaginary deposits of gold. This adven- 
ture dates back as early as the summer of 1849, though generally repre- 
sented as occurring one year later. A similar movement did, indeed, 
transpire in 1850, based, no doubt, upon the rumors that gave rise to 
the original expedition, which, in reality, took place at the time above 
stated. 

There are several isolated peaks and buttes in this county, the most 
conspicuous of which are Table mountain, over six thousand five hun- 
dred feet high, and Saddle mountain, lying a few miles south of it, 
and not quite so high, and the Sierra Buttes, thirteen miles east of 
Downieville, the latter eight thousand three hundred feet high. Like 
Plumas, the whole of this county has a considerable altitiide, scarcely 
any of it being less than three thousand feet above the level of the sea. 
The bed of the North Yuba, where crossed by the west line of the 
county, and about the lowest point in it, is two thousand one hundred 
and sixty-sis feet high, while many of the mining camps in the county 
have an altitude of more than five thousand feet. Nearly the whole 
county is underlaid by auriferous slates, generally covered by volcanic 
accumulations, the former being denuded by the numerous deep 
ravines that furrow the country in every direction. Along the crest of 
the Sierra this slate is capped by high volcanic "buttes," imparting 
to the range a sharply serrated contour. The most of the lava found 
in this region is basaltic, though there are in places large quantities of 
breccia and conglomerate. The slates, with occasional serpentine, are 
to be seen only in the valleys and canons where the superimposed vol- 
canic mass has been worn away by the action of the water. 

"While considerable quantities of fruit and vegetables are raised, 
there is but little stock kept, and only a limited amount of grain grown 
in this county, the arable and grazing land being mostly confined to a 
few small valleys and mountain flats, the latter too elevated to admit of 
the successful culture of the more tender plants and fruits, though 
most kinds of grain and vegetables are raised without trouble. The 



230 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA. 

land enclosed amounts to twenty-five thousand acres — one third, per- 
haps, under cultivation — barley, of which about twenty-five thousand 
bushels are raised annually, being the principal cereal planted. Large 
quantities of potatoes, and other esculent roots of superior quality are 
grown, while the peach, -NOiie and apricot flourish in many of the deep 
and warmer vallej'S. 

The climate here is rigorous in the winter, the cold being severe 
and the snow falling to a gi-eat depth and lying for several months on 
the higher ridges and mountains, though generally there is but little in 
the lower valleys. As is the case in all the inhabited mountain districts 
in this part of the State, the principal mode of traveling at this season 
is on snow-shoes — what is kno-wn as the "Norwegian skate," being em- 
ployed for the purpose. This skate, or shoe, consists of a strip of pine 
board four inches wide and from eight to twelve feet long, slightly 
turned up forward, which being attached to the feet, the traveler, fur- 
nished with a pole to steady and guide him, makes his way over the 
snow, when soft, with a speed and facility to the novice quite surprising. 
The velocity with which a person experienced in the use of these shoes 
will descend a mountain side deeply covered with snow is, to one never 
having witnessed the performance, incredible. Nearly all classes 
residing in the more Alpine regions of the State practice with these 
skates, without which travel would be nearly impracticable, since it 
becomes almost impossible to break roads where the aggi-egate snow- 
fall amounts to forty or fifty feet in a single winter — it lying often at 
one time to depths varying from ten to fifteen feet. Snow-shoe racing 
constitutes a popular and exhilarating sport among the inhabitants of 
these elevated districts, even the women frequently becoming competi- 
tors in these trials of speed and skill. 

Downieville, the county seat of Sierra, contains one thousand five 
hundred inhabitants — the population of the entire county being seven 
thousand. Howland Flat, a populous mining neighborhood in the 
Qorthwestern part of the county, numbers one thousand inhabitants, 
and Sierra valley, a broad flat situated high up in the mountains, about 
as many more, a large proportion of Avhom are women and children — 
the inhabitants of this locality being engaged chiefly in stock raising 
and farming. With the exception of a group of thermals strongly im- 
pregnated with sulphur, located one and a half miles east of Sierraville, 
there are no hot or mineral springs in this county. 

In the matter of mineral resources. Sierra may, for its size, justly 
claim to be the leading county in California, both as regards placer and 
vein mining. The diggings here, from the first extensive and prolific. 



COUNTIES OF CALrFOENIA. 231 

still continue among tlie most profitable and largely productive in the 
State ; several of the quartz claims, such as the Sierra Buttes, Inde- 
pendence, Keystone, Primrose, Gold Bluff, and Gold Valley mines, 
having been steadily worked for many years, with highly remunerative 
results. Kanking among the best of these properties is the lode of the 
Brush Creek Quartz Mining Company, located three miles west of 
Forest City, and which, though partially explored as early as 1857, was 
not thoroughly opened and rendered largely productive until a recent 
date. Across this county, pursuing a generally north and south direc- 
tion, run several strongly marked branches of the far-famed ancient river 
channels, which, though scarcely more than scratched, have already 
yielded millions of dollars, and which, in their rich and wide-spread 
deposits insure profitable mining for centuries to come. On the most 
eastern of these channels, which has as yet been but little opened, are 
situated the very prosperous mining camps of Nebraska and American 
City ; on that lying next west, somewhat more extensively worked, are 
Forest City, Alleghany, "Wet Eavine, Chips' Flap, Centerville, and 
Minnesota; while on the three remaining channels, taking them in their 
order as we proceed west, we have first, Deadwood, Sebastopol, Excel- 
sior, Monte Cristo, Rock Creek, and City of Six, the deposits up to 
this point being reached and operated by means of shafts and tunnels, 
while those further west are mostly worked by hydraulic washing. On 
the next channel are located Table Mountain, Poker Flat, "VVashoe, 
Morristown and Eureka ; on the next, beginning as before, on the 
north, are Wliisky Diggings, Howland Flat, St. Louis and Port Wine ; 
the points on the most westerly channel, where heavy work has been 
done, being Hepsydam, Gibsonville, Laporte and Poverty Hill, the old 
river beds below the points mentioned being less explored, though 
probably equally rich with those already opened and for so many years 
worked with success. Hydraulic, as well as tunnel mining, is prose- 
cuted in this county on a very extensive scale, many of these claims 
being among the largest and best paying in the State. The celebrated 
"Blue Lead," in so far as it may be a different gold bearing channel 
from that of these ancient rivers, finds its most marked development in 
this county, having been a source of immense wealth ever since it was 
first laid open. 

Many silver and copper beai-ing lodes have been found in the cen- 
tral and eastern parts of the county, but none of them having yet been 
proved by deep exploration, it would be premature to pronounce upon 
their value, though both class of ores have yielded satisfactory and 
often very large returns, both by assay and working tests. 



232 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENLi. 

Sierra contains abotxt forty quartz mills and thirty saw mills, many 
of tlie former being large and costly establishments, the earnings of 
which have been steady and liberal. The extent of water ditching in 
this county is very considerable, the length of this work being one 
hundred and forty miles, constructed at an aggregate cost of about 
§400,000. 

NEVADA COTOTTY. 

This county, which derives its name from the Sierra Nevada moun- 
tains that run across its eastern extremity, was erected from a part of 
Tuba county in 1851. It is bounded on the north by Tuba and Sierra 
counties, on the east by the State of Nevada, on the south by Placer, 
and on the west by Tuba county. In form it is long and narrow, 
extending sixty-five miles east and west, and fifteen north and south, 
giving it a superficial area of about one thousand one hundred square 
miles. With the exception of the eastern portion, covered by the great 
snowy range, the surface of the country is much less rugged and broken 
than that of Sierra and Plumas lying to the north; the western section, 
occupied by the lower foot-hills, and finally sinking into the broad 
plains of the Sacramento, being comparatively level. The middle fork 
of the Tuba river forms about two thirds of its northern boundary, 
separating it from Sierra county, the south fork of that stream running 
centrally through it. Without partaking of the striking features that 
mark the country, further north the scenery in the upper part of the 
country is varied and often wild and majestic; while the central and 
lower portions are pleasantly diversified by deep ravines, knolls and 
dales — rolling prairies, wooded mountains and long sweejjs of gently 
sloping hills. Here the country is covered with a mixed growth of oak 
and pine; the trees, which generally attain but a moderate size, being 
gathered in clumps or scattered sparsely over it. Interspersed through 
the timber, or growing in the forest glades, are many varieties of beau- 
tiful flowering shrubs, the most picturesque and fragrant of these 
being the buckeye, the chanyiza, the wild lilac and the manzanita, that 
everywhere adorn the landscape and fill the air with perfume during 
the spring and early summer. The open spaces among the foot-hiUs, 
and more especially the prairies that skirt them, bloom in spring time 
with fields of wild flowers of every form and hue — all exceedingly 
brilliant and graceful, tb.ough generally deficient in odor. Sometimes 
a single variety will occupy several acres, to be followed by another 
patch equally extensive, covered by a different kind. It would be vain 
to seek in the most carefully cultivated gardens, where the choicest 



COXINTIES OF CALIFORNIA. 233 

floral treasures of the -world have been gathered, for anything more 
exquisitely shaped or tinted than can be found growing wild and 
uncared for in these immense parterres. The soil on the uplands is a 
ferruginous loam, deep, warm and generous; that of the bottoms and 
basin-like flats, a dark vegetable alluvium, having great strength and 
body, and being exceedingly well adapted for' the culture of fruits, 
grains, and vegetables ; while the vine thrives better on the red, hill 
soil, growing luxuriantly and yielding with an abundance, to the very 
tops of the mountains. Certain of the fruits, such as the peach, quince 
and apricot also prefer the lighter and drier soil of the uplands, which, 
from the decomposition of slates and volcanic material intermixed with 
iron and vegetable mould, is by no means lacking in the elements of 
fruitfulness and strength. Wild grasses of several varieties grow sparse- 
ly nearly everywhere throughout this lower country, affording a good 
deal of nutritious pasturage. The summer climate here is hot during 
the day, though the nights are generally cool. The spring and autumn 
seasons, exempt from extremes, are always delightful, which is also the 
case in the gi-eater portion of the winter, but little snow ever falling 
and the cold never being excessive; stock, except work cattle, are rarely 
ever housed, nor do they require much fodder unless the winter is 
uncommonly severe. Indeed, a more pleasant rural region, or a more 
desirable abode for man than is furnished by these foot-hills, is nowhere 
to be found. And, since what has been said concerning the portion of 
them lying in Nevada, will apply equally well to the entire range 
stretching south more than two hundred miles through the remaining 
mining counties, no further description thereof will be required when 
we come to speak of the latter. 

That the climate of this county, though mild in the lower regions, 
is, in different parts widely unlike, especially in the winter, may be 
inferred from the fact that some sections of it are more than eight 
thousand feet high, while others are elevated but a few feet above the 
level of the sea. In the latter, snow, as has been stated, never falls to 
any great depth and soon disappears ; while on the mountains it accu- 
mulates to depths varying from ten to thirty feet, according to altitude 
and exposure, some of the higher peaks retaining it on their northern 
slopes nearly all the year around. 

There are several small lakes in the upper part of the county, of 
which Donner, situated east of the main crest of the Sierra, is the 
largest and most attractive ; its great beauty, and the wild scenery 
around it, promising to render it one of the most popular resorts in 
the Sierra. 



234 THE NATUKAL WEALTH OP CALIFOENIA. 

"Wliile mining is the cliief industry and source of -wealtli in tliis 
comity, many of tlie inhabitants depend, at least in part, uj^on the pro- 
ducts of the soil for a subsistance ; considerable quantities of grain 
being raised, and much attention paid to horticulture, viniculture and 
fruit growing. Fruits and vegetables of excellent quality are raised in 
nearly all parts of the county, while the number of vines in 1867 
exceeded three hundred thousand. About seventy thousand acres of 
land were enclosed that year, of which nearly one half were under crdti- 
vation, producing wheat, barley and oats in nearly equal proportions. 
The number of draft animals kept is large, many being required for 
haiding ore from the mines to the mills and supplying the latter with 
fuel. There is also a heavy business done here in lumbering, calling 
for the services of many teams in hauling logs and transporting the 
product of the mills to market. About two thousand cows are kept in 
the county, there being many small dairies for supplying- the local 
demand for butter, milk and cheese. Only a sufficiency of sheep and 
swine are raised for the shambles, the annual product of wool amount- 
ing to but a few thousand pounds. Besides twenty saw mills, many of 
them costly and of large capacity, there is an extensive grist mill, three 
tanneries, two foundries, and several other small manufacturing estab- 
lishments in the county. 

The principal towns in this county are Nevada City, the county seat, 
and Grass VaUey lying four miles further southwest. The former has 
a population of about three thousand five hundred, and the latter of 
six thousand. They are both mining centers of note. Grass Valley 
being famed for the large number of rich quartz veins in the vicinity, 
and the success with which many of them have long been worked. 
Though often desolated by fires, and suffering severely from those sud- 
den migrations which have so frequently diminished the populations of 
our interior towns and mining camps, they have continued to steadily 
advance and maintain their position as prosperous and gi-owing places; 
the superior character of the mines in the neighborhood generally caus- 
ing, sooner or later, a return of nearly all, who, under the impulse of 
temporary excitements had hastened away to other and often distant 
localities. And such is now the well ascertained extent and value of 
the mines adjacent to those towns that their future growth and perma- 
nence seem well assured. They each contain numerous well constructed 
halls, churches, school houses, and other public edifices; are supplied 
with gas and water works, have an efficient fire department, and a well 
organized local government, with various social, literary and charitable 



COXJNTIES OF CAIIFOENIA. 235 

institutions reflecting credit on the benevolence, enterprise and enlight- 
enment of the inhabitants. 

Besides these two leading places, there are many other thrifty and 
growing towns in the county, the more prominent of which are the fol- 
lowing : San Juan, situated ten miles north of Nevada, is the principal 
village in a series of mining camps and hamlets scattered at intervals of 
two or three miles along the ridge that slopes north to the middle Yuba. 
The name was first given to a hill at this point in which rich diggings 
were developed as early as 1853. The surface placers in the vicinity 
have been very prolific, and some of the most remunerative tunnel and 
hydraulic claims in the county are still being worked in the neighbor- 
hood. The town now contains about one thousand inhabitants, and is 
not only a prosperous and active, but also a cheerful and handsome 
place, much care having been bestowed by the inhabitants upon the 
culture of vines, fruit trees and flowers, every residence, almost, being 
adorned with many varieties of the latter, and the environs of the town 
being planted with vineyards, gardens and orchards. The facilities 
afforded for irrigation by the numerous water ditches have done much 
to promote improvements of this kind — the inhabitants having early 
availed themselves of this aid for planting and adorning their grounds. 
North San Juan, as this village is generally termed, to distinguish it 
from places bearing the same name elsewhere in the State, has a good 
local government and thoroughly organized fire department, who oper- 
ate with hose attached to the hydrants of the water works belonging to 
the town. There are a number of schools and churches, and several 
benevolent orders in San Juan, which is also the headquarters of some 
half dozen stage lines, radiating to surrounding localities, and the cen- 
ter of a large local trade. Miaing, throughout this district, is prose- 
cuted on a scale of great magnitude. The annual yield of gold of 
Bridgeport township, in which San Juan is situated, for the past ten 
years has exceeded 11,300,000. Sebastopol, a hamlet one mile east of 
San Juan, is composed of the residences of those owning the American 
and Gold Bluff mines, on Junction Bluff and Manzanita Hills ; Sweet- 
land, a short distance south, being another village, containing, with its 
environs, a population of two or three hundred. Birchville, four mUes 
east of San Juan, is another pleasant little town embowered amidst 
trees and beau.tiful with vines and flowers. The inhabitants are prin- 
cipally engaged in mining — ^large quantities of gold having, for many 
j^ears, been gathered in the district, through a system of bed-rock tim- 
nelling. Five companies, ojperating here, took out, in the year 1866, 
an aggregate of $581,000, of which $327,500 were net proceeds. Not 



236 THE NATURAL WEALTn OF C^VLIFOEXIA. 

one half the rich ground here has yet been exhausted. French Corral, 
with a population of about four hundred, is another flourishing mining 
town lying a few miles below San Juan, on the Middle Tuba. Tunnel 
and hydraulic mining has been carried on extensively and profitably 
here for more than twelve years, there being, besides the hill diggings 
worked by hydraulics, a broad stratum of blue cement underlying the 
gravel, and found to be very rich in gold. Cherokee, though a much 
larger place than French Corral, is surrounded by a similar character 
of mines. The auriferous flat near the town, worked out in the early 
day, proved extremely rich. 

Eough and Keady, Little York, You Bet, Eed Dog, and Eureka, 
rank among the active and progressive mining towns of this county, 
the former having been among the very earliest settled places in it. In 
the spring of 1851 Bough and Eeady was a village more than twice the 
size of Grass Valley, the surface claims near by, covering a broad scope, 
having paid largely. There is still a good deal of mining being jirose- 
cuted in the vicinity; and the town, though not keeping pace with some 
of its neighbors, contains in its orchards, vineyards, and cultivated 
gardens, many evidences of thrift and comfort. Little York, lying on 
the ridge between Steep Hollow and Bear river, being almost hidden 
from sight by fruit and shade trees, presents a very attractive appear- 
ance. The early diggings here were good, and the large bodies of 
cement on which several mills are now running, with the high banks of 
auriferous earth, give assurance that mining will be largely and profit- 
ably carried on here for many years to come. For a California moun- 
tain town, Little York has been singularly fortunate in an entire 
exemption from fire — ^no sweeping conflagration ever having occurred 
to lay it in ruins. Bed Dog, lying a little to the north, has, on the 
contrary, been a severe sufi"erer in this respect, having been several 
times completely devastated by fire. The place and vicinity contains 
about three hundred inhabitants. There are four mills within a short 
distance of the town, crushing the blue cement that is here found in a 
heavy body — there being several others, at no great distance off, also 
running on this material. The town of You Bet, lying midway be- 
tween Little York and Bed Dog, contains a population, during the 
active mining season, of about one thousand, and is sustained iJrinci- 
pally by hydraulic and cement mining — being situated on the ' ' Blue 
Lead " channel. Five cement mills are worked steadily and successfully 
in the vicinity of the to-\vn. Eureka, which is situated on the divide 
between the South and Middle Yuba, being surrounded by shallow 
placers, was a favorite mining ground in the earlier day, the diggings 



COUNTIES OF CAIIFOENIA. 237 

being easily ■worlsecl, but soon esliaustecl. Lately tlie district has 
attracted mucli attention by its many promising veins of quartz, for 
working wliicli five or sis mills liave been put up within the past year. 
The most of these mills are running steadily, and are understood to be 
meeting with a fair degree of success. Much work is being expended 
in the development of the mines, and the prospect is that Eureka will 
in a short time become one of the most active camps in the eastern part 
of the county. In the Meadow Lake district, lying upon the summit of 
the Sierra, in the eastern part of the county, a great number of gold 
bearing lodes were discovered in 1864, and much excitement ensuing, 
a population of more than one thousand was drawn into the district 
soon after. Five quartz mills have since been erected, but much diffi- 
culty having been experienced in treating the ores, owing to a want of 
suitable processes for saving the gold, the most of these mills have 
remained idle since their erection. When this want shall be supplied, 
this will, no doubt, become a very prosperous district, as the ledges, 
which are large and numerous, are known to carry a large percentage of 
gold, while the facilities for reduction, owing to an abundance of wood 
and water, are of the very first order. 

The present population of Nevada county numbers about eighteen 
thousand, the assessed value of the real and personal property therein 
being nearly $6,000,000, exclusive of mines. As stated, the business of 
mining for gold constitutes the leading pursuit in Nevada, the mines 
here consisting of both placer and quartz, the former conducted mostly 
by deep tunneling and hydraulic washing. Vein mining was entered 
upon in this county at a very early day; about the first persistent trials 
made in the State having been at Grass Valley, where this branch of 
the business was initiated as early as the spring of 1851; and where it 
has since been prosecuted with better average results extending through 
a series of years than at any other point perhaps in the world. At 
first mistakes were made, and difficulties encountered here as well as 
elsewhere ; but, through persevering efforts and good management, 
these have been so far overcome that latterly a high degree of success 
has rewarded the labors of many companies operating in that neigh- 
borhood. Glancing at a few prominent facts connected with the history 
of these, a more detailed notice of the whole will be found in our chapter 
on "Mines and Mining." Viewed as a whole, the lodes in this district 
are not distinguished so much for their heavy body of vein matter as the 
high grade and tractable character of the ores they carry; hence the 
facility with which the latter have been managed and the very liberal and 
often extremely large returns that have attended their working. 



238 THE NATUllAL WEAITU OF CALIFOENIA. 

The yield of bidlion from the Eureka mine, for the year ending Sep- 
tember 30, 1866, amounted to $521,431.41; mining and milling expenses, 
and cost of construction for same period being $192,648.44, leaving a 
profit divided among the owners of $328, 782. 97 — nearly all extracted by 
a twenty-stamp mill belonging to the company. The whole amount of ore 
crushed was 11, 375f tons, the average yield being $45. 83 per ton. The 
total product of bullion from this mine for the year ending September 
30, 1867, was $585,316.10, net profits $348,102.37, the average yield of 
the ore, including sulphurets, having been within a fraction of $48 per ton. 
The North Star mine for the six months, ending Januaiy 1st, 1868, 
turned out $110, 545. 84, of which $20, 000 were divided as net profits, 
and $30,000 expended on improvements, the balance having been ab- 
sorbed by current expenses of working the mill and mine. These results 
were not so favorable as had previously been obtained, the company 
claiming to have cleared from this mine during the five years ending 
with June, 1867, the sum of $375,000. From the Empire mine there 
were raised during the fourteen years, ending June 30th, 1867, a total 
of 37,840 tons of ore, which yielded an average of $35.20 j^er ton. 
During the following six months 3, 500 tons of ore were extracted fi'om 
this mine, turning out a total of $100,000 — $27,000 of which were dis- 
bursed to the owners as net gains. Among many other productive and 
promising mines in the" vicinity of Nevada, the Banner, situated about 
two and a half miles southeast of the town, stands conspicuous, hav- 
ing for several years past been worked with energy and success. The 
company own a twenty-stamp mill, which is kept in steady operation 
on the ores raised from the mine — 2, 768 tons of Avhich, reduced during 
the four months ending with January 1st, 1868, yielded $65, 512. 72, the 
average yield having been at the rate of $23. 74 per ton. There were 
raised from the mine, between January 1st, 1865 and January 1st, 1868, 
10, 222 tons of ore, which gave a bullion product of $207, 949. 66, making 
an average yield of $20.34 to the ton, of aU the ore taken from the 
mine since it was first opened. A shaft has been sunk on the ledge to 
a depth of four hundred and twenty feet, at which point it varies from 
one to four feet in thickness, the average thickness being about three 
feet. Within the past fourteen years the total production of the placer 
and quartz mines in Grass Valley district has amounted to about 
$24, 000, 000— the most prolific vein in the neighborhood, that running 
through Massachusetts and Gold hills, having yielded over $5,000,000. 
While the most extensive worked and best paying quartz mines in the 
county are those in the vicinity of Grass Valley, there are a gi-eat num- 
ber in other localities from which excellent returns are being obtained. 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOKKIA. 239 

There are at tlie present time sixty-five quartz and twenty-one 
cement mills in this county — the entire number carrying sis hundred 
and eighty-five stamps, and costing in the aggregate $1,350,000. Some 
of these mills are large and perfect in all their appointments, no 
expense requisite to their efficiency having been spared. 

Besides the precious metals, many copper bearing veins have been 
found in different parts of this county, the largest number being located 
in Rough and Eeady township, where a great deal of labor was applied 
towards opening these lodes in the spring of 1863. The ores, how- 
ever, generally proving of too low a grade to warrant thorough devel- 
opment, all work was within the following two years suspended, to be 
resumed, most likely, when labor shall be cheaper, and the prices of 
copper ore advanced beyond present figures. These ores ranged from 
five to twelve per cent, of metal, and one "lot sent to Swansea netted a 
profit of thirty-five dollars per ton to the shippers. 

There are over fifty water ditches in this county, many of which 
having been consolidated since their construction with other works of 
the kind, have lost their original names. These improvements have an 
aggregate linear extent of eight hundred and fifty miles, and cost about 
$4, 250, 000. The first of these enterprises was projected as early as 
1850, the more recent having been consummated only within the past 
few years. Some of these works, not less on account of their cost and 
the grand scale on which they have been designed, than of the vast 
utilitarian ends accomplished through their completion, deserve to be 
ranked among the great public improvements of the day. 

At the present time, the two leading works of this kind in the county 
are the Eureka Lake and Tuba Canal Consolidated, and the ditch of 
the South Yuba Canal company, both among the most costly, exten- 
sive and profitable works of the kind in the State. The last named of 
these ditches, taking vater from the South Tuba, and from several 
lakes, as feeders, carries it to the mining camps about Dutch Flat and 
Gold Eun, in Placer county, and down the ridge between the South 
Tuba and Bear river, as far as Grass Valley, supplying on its route, 
the intermediate country. The ditches of this company are remarkable 
for the permanent manner in which they have been constructed, and for 
the fact that the property still belongs to its original planners and 
builders — the most of these Avorks having, through the inability of the 
first projectors to carry them on, passed, at an early stage in their 
progress, into the hands of other parties. The main trunk of this com- 
pany's system of ditches, though but sixteen miles long, cost, with its 
tunnels and flumes, not far from $600,000. One of these tunnels, sixty 



240 THE NATXJEAL WEALTH OF CVLITOEXIA. 

feet in lengtli, cost $6,000; another, three thousand eight hundred feet 
long, having cost $112,000, The flume, seven miles long, mns for one 
and a half miles through a gallery worked into the side of a precipice 
of solid rock one hundred feet high — the cliff being so impending that 
the workmen had to be let down from the top to commence drilling 
and blasting, an expedient not at all uncommon in the construction of 
these works in other parts of the State. This main trunk is six feet 
wide and five feet deep, having capacity to carry eight thousand five 
hundred inches of water, miner's measurement. From this head ditch 
branches ramify, carrying water over an immense tract of country, sup- 
plying a vast number of mills, hydraulic and sluice claims. This 
company have thrown dams across the outlets of four lakes situated 
near the summit of the Sien-a, using them as reserves for supplying 
their canals in the dry season. One of these dams, constructed of solid 
masonry, forty-two feet high and one thousand one hundred and fifty 
feet long, at the outlet of Meadow Lake, has increased its volume of 
water more than ten fold — this lake, formerly a mere pond, now being, 
when full, more than a mile and a quarter long by half a mile wide. 
This dam cost over $50,000 — an equal sum having been expended in 
securing, in like manner, the waste flow from four other smaller lakes 
in the vicinity. The books of this company show that they have con- 
structed and purchased about two hundred and seventy-five miles of 
these aqueducts at a prime cost of more than $1, 000, 000. During the 
twelve years ending in 1807 their expense account reached §1, 130, 000 ; 
receipts for the same time being $1,400,000. 

The works of the Eureka Lake and Yuba Canal Company consist of 
one grand trunk, commencing in four small lakes near the summit of 
the Sierra, and reaching to North San Juan, sixty-five miles, together 
with several side ditches purchased of other parties, the whole after- 
wards consolidated into one system. The principal soiu'ce of water 
supply is Eureka lake, increased by damming from an area of one to 
two square miles, and a depth of sixty-five feet. The dam across its 
outlet, constructed of granite, is seventy feet high and two hundred and 
fifty feet long. The supply of water in this reservoir is estimated at 
nine hundred and thirty-three millions cubic feet, to which may be 
added a further store secured by damming the outlet of Lake Faucherie, 
and other smaller reservoirs, amounting to three himdred millions 
cubic feet. The main trunk, carrying the water from these reservoii-s, 
is eight feet wide by three and a half deep, and has a faU of sixteen 
and a haK feet to the mile, giving it a capacity of over three thousand 
inches. 



COTJNTIES OF CAUTOENIA. 241 

The National and Magenta aqueducts, near Eureka, and -wliicli from 
tlieir proximity, may be almost considered one work, exceed in magni- 
tude and cost any other structure of the kind in the State. The former, 
resting on a scaffolding of immense timbers hewn from trees cut near 
by, is one thousand eight hundred feet long and sixty-five feet high — 
the latter, supported in like manner, has a length of one thousand four 
hundred feet, its greatest height being one hundred and twenty-six feet. 
This lofty and massive frame work, constructed of so many thousand 
enormous braces and beams, has been built in curves to give it strength 
to resist the winds that sometimes sweep with great force through the 
gorge that it crosses. The main canal, flumes and dams of this com- 
pany, have cost very nearly one million dollars. The various canals and 
ditches, which, in December, 1865, became consolidated under the title 
now borne by this company, are the Eureka Lake canal, sixty-five miles 
long ; Miners' ditch, twenty-five miles ; Grizzly ditch, fourteen miles ; 
the two Spring Creek ditches, each twelve miles long; and the Middle 
Yuba canal, forty miles long. In addition to these main canals there 
are many lateral and distributing branches, having a united length of 
over sixty miles, the whole making a total of two hundred and twenty- 
eight miles, the actual cost of which exceeded $1,500,000. 

The Middle Yuba canal, taking water from the middle fork of the 
Yuba, at a point a little above Bloody Run, carries it in a ditch seven 
feet wide by four and a half deep to Badger Hill, San Juan, Sebastopol, 
Sweetland, BirchviUe, and French Corral, a distance of forty miles. 
It has a capacity of one thousand five hundred inches, and cost origin- 
ally $400,000. The sum of half a million dollars is estimated to have 
been spent on projects commenced in 1853 for conducting water from 
Poorman's creek to Orleans, Moore's and AVoolsey's Flats, and for car- 
rying the waters of the IMiddle Yuba into the adjacent diggings, a por- 
tion of which were failures. Of the many subordinate ditches in this, 
county which we have not the space to more fully notice, a number are' 
extensive and costly structures, the aggregate expenditure on the whola 
having been not less than $1,000,000. 

PLACER COTOITy. 

This county, so named from the Spanish term placer, sigmfyirtg- a 
place where gold is found mixed with the alluvial detritus, is bounded 
by Yuba and Nevada counties on the north, by the State of Nevada on 
the east, by El Dorado and Sacramento on the south, and by Sutter and 
Nevada counties on the west. In proportion to its length, it is the nar- 
rowest county in the State, being eighty miles long, east and west, and 
IG 



242 THE natdhal wealth of California. 

having an average width of but fourteen miles — a conformation clue, as 
in the case of many other counties lying against the western slope of 
the Sierra, to the peculiar topography of the coimtiy. The rivers flowing 
in nearly parallel channels do-wn this water shed having divided it into 
long elevated ridges, it has been found convenient, in many instances, 
to form the counties out of one or two of these ridges, making their 
northerly and southerly boundaries the streams running between them. 
Thus, in the case of Placer, we find Bear river forming, for a long dis- 
tance, the dividing line between it. Tuba and Nevada on the north, while 
the middle fork of the American separates it from El Dorado county on 
the south. With so great an easterly and westerly elongation, the u^jper 
portion of the county rests upon the rugged summits of the Sierra, 
while the lower falls almost to a level with tide water. 

As elsewhere thi-oughout this entire tier of mining couiities, the 
winter climate of Placer varies with altitude ; the weather being warm_ 
and spring-like in the western, and even, mild and pleasant in the cen- 
tral sections thereof, while the eastern are deeply buried beneath the 
accumulated snows — the tops of the mountains being enveloped in 
almost constant mists and clouds, and their sides swept by frequent 
storms. 

The north fork of the American river, running centrally through 
Placer, and the middle fork, cutting it on its southern border, have fur- 
rowed this county with tenific canons, the gorges formed by these streams 
being from one thousand eight hundred to two thousand five hundred 
feet deep. In many places their sides have an average slope from top 
to bottom of more than thirty degrees. The narrowness of these 
chasms, only sufficiently wide, as a general thing, to give passage to 
the rivers flowing through them, accounts for the sudden and excessive 
rise that sometimes takes place in these streams, a stage of fifty or sixty 
feet above low water mark being readied in the course of a few hours. 
"What further contributes towards these sudden rises, is the general 
steepness of the water shed about the sources of these rivers, which 
lies high against the precipitous declivities of the Sierra. With such 
a body of water rushing down a steeply inclined bed, some proper con- 
ception can be formed of the forces that have been operating to exca- 
vate these caiions; and when it is considered that a much greater quan- 
tity of rain fell on these mountains when the immense glaciers that 
once nearly cevered them were melting away, we have forces supplied 
more than adequate to the production of these tremendoiis results. 
Even some of the tributary canons to the main streams are very deep 
and narrow. Several of these, situated high up on the di> idc, meas- 



COUNTIES OF CALIFORNIA. 243 

ured by the members of the State Geological Survey, were found to 
vary in depth, from one thousand six hundred to two thousand feet. 
The precipitous character of these ravines is made apparent by the fact 
that the summits of their opposing banks are often less than three 
fourths of a mile asunder, giving to their vralls an average slope of 
nearly forty-five degrees. Observations made by the' Geological Sur- 
vey in certain of these canons, situated in the vicinij;y of Last Chance 
and Deadwood, showed that the auriferous slates, here exposing a ver- 
tical section one thousand five hundred feet deep, have, in their upper 
portions, extending do"\vnwards ten or twelve hundred feet, the usual 
easterly dix3 of the formation, while, below this point they gradually 
assume a pei-pendicular position, and finally curve to the west, estab- 
lishing their true dip at great depth to be in that direction, and supply- 
ing a striking example of the manner in which the upper portions of 
these slates have been forced over by the gradual pressure of the Sierra 
from above. 

As elsewhere in the more Alpine regions of the Sierra, snow and 
land sKdes are of frequent occurrence in the upper portions of this 
county — hardly a season passing without one — and sometimes several 
deaths happening from these causes. The track of the Central Pacific 
railroad, as well also as some of the wagon roads leading over the moun- 
tains, have frequently suffered temporary obstruction from land slides—^ 
large patches, sometimes several acres of the steep mountain side, that 
have become saturated with water, slipping suddenly down and cover- 
ing them to a depth of many feet, destroying the lives of men and ani- 
mals overtaken by them. In some instances large sized trees, standing 
in their natural positions, are brought down on these detached masses, 
and continue growing as before. The snow slide, a similar phenome- 
non, is of more common occurrence than the land slide, being also more 
frequently destructive of life. In the month of March, 1867, a working 
party consisting of sixty men, employed on the Central Pacific railroad, 
at a point a little above Donner lake, on the confines of this county, 
were overwhelmed by a catastrophe of this kind, whereby seventeen 
of their number lost their lives, many of the survivors having been 
badly injured. In the same month, nine houses were destroyed, and a 
woman in one of them crushed to death, by an avalanche of snow, in the 
Kearsarge district, Inyo county. Near the scene of the first mentioned 
disaster, six stage horses were killed by a snow slide in January, 1868, 
while attached to a vehicle filled with passengers, all of whom escaped 
unhurt. In fact, scarcely a winter passes in which accidents of this 
kind, attended with fatal results, do not happen in some part of the 



244 TIEE NATURiMi 'tt'EAJLTH OF C.\LIFORNIA. 

State — their more frequent occmrence in this particular neighborhood 
being simply due to the fact that two gi-eat thoroughfares, the Central 
Pacific railroad and the Donner Lake wagon road, lead through it, 
causing larger numbers to be exposed to their destructive force. These 
snow slides are caused by a sudden slipping down of gieat bodies of 
snow,' and not by an agglomeration of the latter rolling and accumu- 
lating as it descends, after the manner of the avalanches that occur in 
the Alps. Where the body of snow moved is heavy a clear path is 
swept, immense trees being snapped off like reeds, and huge boulders 
carried along before the descending mass. 

The whole of this county is well timbered, except the western por- 
tion, which, sinking into the nearly treeless plains of the Sacramento, 
in without other timber than a few oaks, growing mostly along the water 
com-ses. The business of lumbering is carried on extensively in the 
central and eastern parts of the county, which contain thirty saw mills, 
each capable of cutting from two to thirty thousand feet of lumber 
daily, and costing from two to ten thousand dollars. About two thirds 
of these mills are driven by steam and the rest by water. As is the 
case generally throughout the mining counties, rough lumber, at the 
mills, sells at prices varying from fifteen to twenty dollars per thou- 
sand. 

Placer contains a considerable amount of good agricultui-al land, its 
western part being wholly devoted to farming, sheep, hog and cattle 
raising. About seventy-five thousand acres of land were enclosed in 
1867, of wliich nearly two thirds were under cultivation. Of these, 
about six thousand were planted to wheat, five thousand to barley, and 
three thousand to oats ; a variety of other grains, with large quantities 
of butter, cheese, fruits and vegetables, being produced. In fact. 
Placer holds a conspicuous place among the mining counties for its 
orchards, vineyards and gardens, the number of vines and fruit trees 
planted being very large. There are three grist mills in the county — 
one, the Auburn City mill capable of grinding seventy-five barrels of 
fioui- daily — the others being of less capacity. 

The present population pf the county is estimated at twelve thou- 
sand, of whom one thousand two hundred are residents of Auburn, the 
county seat, once the center of a broad scope of rich placers, and in the 
vicinity of which a considerable amount of quartz mining is still being 
carried on. The votes cast in this county at the general election held 
in the fall of 1867 numbered two thousand six hundred and seventy. 

Dutch Flat, an active mining town on the line of the Central Pacific 
railroad, thirty-two miles northeast of Auburn, contains a population 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 245 

of Wo tliousancl. The following places are also thrifty mining towns, 
some of them the centers of extensive quartz, hydraulic or tunnel opera- 
tions : Gold Run, three miles southeast of Dutch Mat, in the vicinity 
of which there was produced from hydraulic washings during the year 
1866, $350,000, and during the following year $500,000; Todd's Valley, 
eighteen miles northeast of Auburn, formerly the site of rich alluvial 
washings, and now a brisk hamlet surrounded with gardens and other 
evidences of taste and progress. Three miles north of this place is 
Yankee Jim's, one of the earliest camps in this section of country, and 
although the rich surface placers that once made it famous were long 
since exhausted, still rendered a busy locality by the hydraulic opera- 
tions that have succeeded the more shallow diggings. Lying three 
miles east of this place is the stirring town and neighborhood of For- 
est Hill, containing about seven hundred inhabitants, and possessing 
one of the best cement ranges in the State, for the working of which 
material a large number of mills have been erected. Michigan Bluff, 
six miles southeast of Forest Hill, has a population of about one thou- 
sand. Wisconsin Hill, Iowa Hill, Illinoistown, Virginia, and Gold 
Hill, are all the headquarters and trade centers of considerable mining 
districts lying about them, the population of each being from three to 
■ six hundred. The most of these towns have constructed large reser- 
voirs for supplying them with water obtained from the canals that gen- 
erally pass near them. Several of the number are incorporated, and 
all contain a large proportion of pleasant homesteads, indicating the 
enjoyment of a high degree of independence and comfort among the 
inhabitants. Colfax and Cisco, both situated on the line of the Cen- 
tral Pacific railroad, are places of some importance — the former being 
the intersecting point for the business and travel of Grass Valley, 
Nevada, and other places further north. 

At the general election held in 1863, the people of the county voted 
to subscribe two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the capital stock 
of the Central Pacific railroad, which, entering the county near its 
northwestern corner, runs diagonally across it in a northeast direction, 
for a distance of more than fifty miles. 

A heavy mass of auriferous detritus crosses this coimty from north 
to south, its thickness in some places being over five hundred feet. 
Occupying this gold bearing mass are the extensive hydraulic and 
cement mines found around Iowa Hill, "Wisconsin Hill, Michigan Bluff 
and Forest Hill, the latter one of the most important cement mining 
districts in the State — this material here being so indurated that it 
requires to be crushed with stamps in order to release the gold. The 



246 THE NATOK.VL WE.VLTII OF CALIFOIINU. 

mills running on this cement have generally obtained such favorable 
results that their number is b6ing constantly increased, the opportuni- 
ties for extending these operations being almost unlimited. 

Placer contains within its limits forty quartz and cement mills — 
there being twenty-seven of the former and thirteen of the latter. 
The number of stam^Ds in these establishments vary from five to forty — 
the whole amounting to nearly four hundred. Their individual cost 
has ranged from $2,000 to $50,000— the aggregate being about $300,000. 

Planting next to Nevada and Tuolumne, stands Placer in regard to 
the magnitude and cost of its water ditches, the Auburn and Bear 
Eiver canal, in this county, being, with one excej^tion, the longest single 
work of the kind in the State, as it is also one of the most costly and 
capacious. This magnificent improvement has a length of tv/o hundred 
and ninety miles, inclusive of feeders and branches, and required in 
its construction an exi)enditure of $670,000. There are six other ditches 
in the county that cost over $100,000 each, and twenty of subordinate 
capacity, the cost of which has ranged from §5,000 to $50,000 each. 

EL DOEADO COUNTY. 

That the term El Dorado should have readily obtained a place in the 
geographical nomenclature of the interior of the State, will not sur- 
prise those familiar with the circumstances under which it was settled ; 
nor was the name perhaps, inaptly applied to this particular county, 
since it was within its limits that the first gold was found, and here, for 
sometime, the pioneer miner met with his most steady and abundant 
rewards. This county has Placer on the north; a portion of the State 
of Nevada, and Alpine county on the east ; Alpine and Amador coun- 
ties on the south, and Sacramento and Placer on the west. Its length, 
east and west, is sixty miles, and its width thirty miles — its superficial 
area being nearly two thousand square miles. The middle fork of the 
American river separates it from Placer, and the Cosumnes, with its 
south fork, separates it from Amador county. The channel of the for- 
mer is sunk far below the general level of the country, its average depth 
being more than two thousand feet. Thi-ee fourths of the county, em- 
bracing all the eastern and mountainous portions thereof, is heavily tim- 
bered. The lower section contains only a scattered gi-owth of oak and 
pine, of inferior quality, the most westerly part being nearly destitute 
of trees. 

Lumbering has always been prosecuted on a large scale in this 
coimtj' — having been early engaged in and steadily kept up. It now 
contains twenty-six saw mills, carrying forty-two gangs of saws, the 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 247 

most of them numing •witli little interruption. The unnecessary waste 
of valuable timber, however, has here been deplorably great— trees 
from which ten or fifteen fine saw logs might be made having often been 
felled, and two or three, or perhaps half a dozen of the choicest cuts 
being selected, the balance has been left to rot on the ground, fre- 
quently monster trees have been cut do'^vn with a view to their being 
split into shakes or shingles, when, should the first few cuts tried not 
happen to rive well, the whole has, in like manner been abandoned, the 
locality being, perhaps, too far distant from a mill to render the tree 
available for saw logs.. This reckless destruction of these fine forests 
would not be so lamentable had it been restricted to this county alone. 

There are numerous small A^alleys and alluvial flats in this county 
under cultivation— nearly all the cereals, fruits and vegetables grown in 
California being here raised with little trouble. In fact, this county 
jnay be said to contain a large percentage of farming land, since nearly 
one half its surface would be adapted to tillage, if cleared of timber. 
Owing to the circumstance that many of the fertile valleys and flats here, 
as well as elsewhere throughout the mining counties, contained rich de- 
posits of gold, they have been completely destroyed by having all their 
alluvial soil washed away by the miner. Thousands of acres of valu- 
able land have thus been irretrievably ruined. El Dorado having suffered 
largely in this respect. Fruits of all kinds, more especially apples, 
pears and peaches, are here raised in such abundance as to be of little 
or no value in localities remote from market. Even in the vicinity of 
many of the more populous towns, fruit is often produced in such excess 
of local wants — none of it, while green, being ever shipped away — that 
it can be had for the gathering. Lately, however, the business of dry- 
ing certain kinds is being more largely engaged in, rendering it prob- 
able that its production will be more remunerative hereafter. A large 
number of vines have been planted, and are everywhere found to thrive 
well — El Dorado ranking third or fourth among the wine producing 
counties of the State. Some of the wines made here are highly 
esteemed, meeting not only with local favor, but having already obtained 
an extensive sale abroad. There are two grist mills in the cotmty, hav- 
ing a joint capacity to make about one hundred barrels of flour daily. 

The present population of this county is estimated at fifteen thou- 
sand, a large proportion of the inhabitants being women and children. 
Few of the mountain counties contain so large a number of small, well 
cultivated farms and comfortable homesteads as this ; nor has the 
industry of any other been marked by a greater diversity of pursuits. 
The early construction of a railroad from tidewater to the western con- 

V 



248 THE natuejUl wealth of California. 

fines of this county, and its subsequent extension almost to the county 
seat, has done much, by facilitating the carriage of its products to mar- 
ket, towards establishing new branches of industry and stimulating the 
productive energies of the peoj^le. Through El Dorado, stretching 
along its whole length, lies the principal route by which the overland 
immigration has always entered California — the freight and travel 
hence to the silver regions of Nevada, and countries beyond, having, 
until recently, pursued also the same thoroughfare; keeping a constant 
tide of business flowing both ways through the county, to the enrich- 
ment of many who participated more directly in- its benefits, and the 
great advantage of the inhabitants at large. In no county in the State 
has there been so much money expended in the consti-uction of wagon 
roads as in this — the most of these enterprises consisting of toE roads 
built to secure the heavy trade across the Sierra, that sprang up on the 
discovery of the Washoe mines. Upon this class of improvements 
alone, more than a quarter of million of dollars has been exjsended, 
besides large sums spent on roads of minor importance. Towards the 
building of some of these works the county, in its corporate capacity, 
has contributed ; the greater portion, however, has been executed by 
private, and, for the most part, local capital. The citizens of Placer- 
ville, the county seat, at a municipal election held in AjDril, 1863, voted 
an appropiation of §100,000 towards aiding in the building of the 
Placerville and Sacramento Valley railroad ; the people, at the general 
election of the same year, having voted, ^on behalf of the county at 
large, the further sum of $200, 000 for the same purpose. 

Placerville, the largest town in the county, has a population of about 
four thousand. It is distinguished for the number of its handsome 
chui'ches, its excellent schools, and the entei-jDrise, intelligence and 
orderly habits of its citizens. The town is supplied with gas and water 
works, and is so completely embowered in vines, trees, flowers and 
shrubbery, as to seem, when viewed from the surrounding hills, an 
almost continuous field of orchards, vineyards and gardens. 

Coloma, located on the south fork of the American river, ten miles 
northwest of Placerville, has been rendered equally attractive by a 
profuse planting of vines and trees in and around it. Some of the 
most thrifty vineyards in the county are situated in the environs of this 
place— one of these being the property of James W. Marshall, the dis- 
coverer of gold in California — ^which event, having happened within the 
precincts of the town, must secure for Coloma (Sutter's mill, as the 
place was then called,) a conspicuous place in history. This vineyard 
comprises all the property that Marshall now owas, and to its culture 



COtTN'TIES OF CALIFOENLV. 249 

lie lias for many years devoted his labor and attention. The extensive 
bar lying a little below the to^vn on which the first washings Avere per- 
formed, has, through many re-workings, been almost wholly washed 
away — the old mill and the race below it, in which the first piece of 
gold was picked up, having long since disappeared. The adjacent river 
banks, once extensively worked — the old bar, and others a little further 
down, together with the ravines and flats in the surrounding district, 
having been well nigh exhausted. There has been for several years 
past but comparatively little mining going on in the vicinity of this 
once productive and ever memorable locality. Coloma contains, at the 
.present time, about nine hundred inhabitants, scarcely half the number 
that dwelt in and around it in its more prosperous days. But, as most 
of the adjacent country has the advantage of a rich tractable soil, 
enjoys a fine climate, and is well supplied with timber, it cannot fail 
to become, in a short time, a prosperous farming district, there being 
already scattered over it many pleasant homes and broad grain fields. 

Georgetown, an early, and once prosperous mining town, is situ- 
ated on the ridge between the south and middle forks of the American 
river, fourteen miles north of Placerville. It has now a poptUation of 
about five hundred, the former number of inhabitants having been 
greatly reduced through the exhaustion of the placers around it. A 
number of quartz veins are, however, being successfully worked in the 
neighborhood — the prospect promising well for an early extension of 
this business. 

Taking the county seat for a starting point, we have the following 
mining towns lying around it in various directions, with the popula- 
tion of each indicated by the figures annexed, viz. : Diamond Springs, 
three miles southwest, 600 ; El Dorado, five miles southwest, 700 ; 
Grizzly Plat, twenty miles southeast, 400 ; Pilot Hill, twenty miles 
northwest, 400; Garden Valley, eleven miles northerly, 300; and Shingle 
Springs, nine miles southwest, 400 ; besides many mining camps and 
hamlets scattered over the cotmty, and containing from fifty to two 
hundred and fifty inhabitants each. 

Notwithstanding the gulch and bar diggings are pretty nearly worked 
out, there are in many parts of this county heavy masses of auriferous 
cement and detritus, that are being extensively and profitably operated 
upon either through hydraulic washing, tunneling or crushing with 
stamps. Many gold bearing quartz veins are also being developed, 
milling operations, for a time nearly suspended, having been very active 
during the past two years; and to suppose that a very prosperous 
future awaits this iuterest in El Dorado, would, in view of the abund- 



250 THE NATUIi^U- WEALTH OF CALIFORNTA. 

ance of fair grade quarta it contains, and the facilities that exist for 
its economical reduction, be by no means a violent assumption. 

There are thirty quartz and eight cement mills in the county — the 
whole carrying four hundred and thirty-five stamps. Several of these 
mills have cost as high as §60, 000 each, the aggregate cost having been 
about .S400,000. There are also fifty water ditches, one of them, that 
of the Eureka Canal company, being the longest in the State, extend- 
ing a distance of four himdred and fifty miles. The total length of 
these canals is one thousand two liundi'ed and fifty miles, giving them 
an average length of twenty-five miles. The Eureka canal cost 8500, 000 ; 
the Pilot Creek, one hundred and fifty miles long, cost §300,000; the 
South Fork canal, but thirty-three and a quarter miles long, having, in 
consequence of its large size and the difficult character of the country 
through which it runs, cost an equal amount. The entire sum spent in 
the construction of these various -works is very large, and although the 
revenues of many have been liberal, few have proved sources of profit 
to the proprietors, owing, in many cases, not more to the great cost of 
their construction than to the expensive and protracted litigation in 
which they have been involved. 

Besides a number of manufacturing interests that are beginning to 
gain a foothold in the county, in a small way, it contains several tan- 
neries, iron founderisa, and similar establishments, all of moderate 
capacity. Some years since quite an extensive and profitable summer 
trade was inaugurated by the citizens of El Dorado, in bringing down 
ice, or rather the frozen and compacted snow found on the Sierra, and 
supplying it to the mining towns below — a business which has under- 
gone considerable expansion sinca the construction of wagon roads into 
the mountains, whereby the transportation of this article, formerly car- 
ried on pack animals, has been cheapened and facilitated. 

A great number of copper veins were located in the western part of 
this county about five years ago, upon which an immense amount of 
labor was, in the aggregate, expended. But, as little of this work was 
concentrated at any one point, none of these lodes were fully j)roven ; 
and, although many small lots of rich ore were extracted, the perma- 
nency and value of the deposits remain imdecided. That a large pro- 
portion of these veins will be shown, on more thorough exploration, to 
lack in persistence, seems probable, a few having already been proven 
mere segregated lenticular masses; others, however, exhibit more satis- 
factory evidences of permanency, and the prospect that El Dorado vrill 
find in this metal a soiirce of miich future wealth is thought to be 
encouraging. The first copper vein opened in the State, known as the 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 251 

Bodgers mine, is located in Hope vallej, formerly within tlie limits of 
this county, now a portion of Alpine. The vein here is small, but the 
ores are of high grade, and with better means of carriage, would pay 
well for shipment to market. For several years the reduction works 
about Virginia City obtained their supplies of copper from this mine. 
El Dorado abounds with marble of excellent quality, there being at 
least twenty beds that, having been partially opened, give promise of 
making valuable quarries. The material is of all the varieties known 
to the trade— one deposit, near Grizzly Flat, being of an unclouded 
white, and more than three hundred feet thick ; within this bed there 
exists an extensive grotto, consisting, so far as explored, of a succes- 
sion of rooms connected by narrow passages. Some of these chambers 
are spacious and lofty, their entire length being seven hundred feet. 
Pendant from their roofs are numerous stalactites, imparting to them, 
when illiiminated, a very brilliant appearance. 

AMADOE COUNTY. 

This county, named, Kite several other localities in the State, after 
one of the early California families of Spanish origin, has El Dorado 
county on the north, Alpine on the east, Calaveras on the south, and 
San Joaquin and Sacramento on the west. It has a conformation not 
unlike that of Placer, being long and narrow. Its entire length, meas- 
ured east and west, is fifty-two miles, and its average breadth ten miles. 
The Mokelumne river, separating it from Calaveras, forms its southern 
boundary throughout almost its entire length — the Cosumnes, on the 
north, dividing it from El Dorado, and forming two thirds of its bound- 
ary on that side. In its geology, topography, soil, climate, timber and 
other natural productions, it resembles the several counties last de- 
scribed, except that the river canons here are not so deep, while the 
proportion of good farming land is greater. Formerly this county 
extended into and beyond the high Sierra, a distinction of which it was 
deprived in 1864, by the erection of Alpine county from the eastern 
portion of its territory; at present it barely reaches in that direction to 
the base of the great snowy range. The eastern section is, nevertheless, 
very rugged and broken, reaching a general altitude of between four 
and five thousand feet. The only isolated mountain, however, of any 
great height within its limits, is the Butte, so called, three and a half 
miles east of Jackson, which has an estimated elevation of one thou- 
sand two hundred feet above the town, and eight hundred feet above the 
country at its base. It is whoUy of volcanic origin, has an irregnilar 



252 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

conical sliape, and is often ascended for the sake of the fine view, 
enjoyed from its top. 

Running into this county from Calaveras is a heavy belt of lime- 
stone, penetrating to the town of Volcano, located near its center. A 
few miles to the northeast of this place the granite formation sets in, 
the upheaval of which composes the crest and peaks of the main Sierra. 
The overlying volcanic masses exhibit themselves in gi'eatest strength 
towards the southerly line of the county, the auriferous slates appear- 
ing in the westerly and northwestern parts. All except the lower por- 
tions of the coiinty are heavily timbered, and about twelve million feet 
of lumber are made every year, the most of which is reqiiired for home 
consumption. Many shakes and shingles are also made, there being 
several shingle machines in the county. The saw mills are twelve in 
number — two or three of large, and the balance of moderate capacity. 
With the exception of four flouring mills, two of large size, a tannery 
and a foundiy, there is but little manufacturing carried on in the 
county. A large amount of money, however, has been expended in 
the constriiction of wagon roads and water ditches — not less than one 
million five hundred thousand dollars having been laid out upon the 
latter, and one hundred and fifty thousand dollars on the former. There 
are twenty-eight of these water ditches, and, although none of them are 
over seventy miles in length, the building of some has been very expen- 
sive. The Amador canal, taking water from the north fork of the 
Mokelumne river, and conducting it to Pine Grove, a distance of abovit 
sixty-six miles, cost over §400, 000 — the individual cost of several others 
having reached over $150,000. The largest and most expensive road 
in the county is that commencing at Jackson and extending across the 
Sierra to the head of Carson valley, opening wagon communication 
between the county seat and the State of Nevada. The aggi-egate length 
of water ditches is four hundred and twenty miles ; the linear extent of 
improved wagon roads is about half that distance. The building of 
some poi-tions of these roads lying through mountainous districts has 
been attended with hea^'y cost. 

Situated among the lower foothills of Amador are some of the rich- 
est agricultural valleys in the State. Though of comparatively limited 
area, ranging from three to six miles in length, and from two to three 
in breadth, their yield of grains and fruits is not only certain but always 
prolific. In these valleys Indian corn grows well, three or four thou- 
sand bushels having been raised some seasons. The more fertile of 
these spots consist of lone. Dry creek, Jackson, and Buckeye valleys, 
and the several deltas formed by these and other creeks. With com- 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 253 

f ortable farm liouses, surrounded by orcliards, gardens and gi'ain fields, 
v;ith their well fenced enclosures and a rich friable soil, covered with a 
scattered growth of ancient oaks, these valleys present the very ideal 
of rural felicity and enjoyment. Much of the hill land in this county 
has also been found well suited to the production of the cereals, and 
more especially of the grape, which here attains, both in size and flavor, 
its greatest perfection. Still higher up in the Sierra, and in some 
places lying upon its very summit, are many little dales and savannas 
covered with a variety of wild grasses, which, keeping green through- 
out the summer, afford excellent pasturage for large numbers of cattle ; 
the herders from the valleys driving their stock thither during the dry 
season and returning them again to the plains on the approach of win- 
ter. In the winter these grassy spots are deeply covered with snow, 
which often remains upon them until late in the spring. In the center 
of some of them are small lakes, which, if shallow, are frozen over, 
the deeper remaining open all winter. 

The population of Amador county is estimated at about 11,000. 
Jackson, the county seat, pleasantly situated on a creek of the same 
name, and in the vicinity of a group of valuable mines, contains one 
thousand inhabitants. The town having been nearly all burnt up in 
August, 1862, was soon after rebuilt, mainly with brick and other 
indestructable material, rendering the most of the houses fire-proof, 
and securing the place against the recurrence of a similar catastrophe. 
Sutter Creek, Amador and Drytown, lying northwest of Jackson, being 
on or near the main mineral belt running across the county, are all 
prosperous towns with valuable and productive mines in the vicinity. 
Sutter Creek contains, in and about it, a population of eight hundred; 
Amador six hundred, and Drytown seven hundred. lone City, twelve 
miles west of the county seat, contains six hundred ifihabitants. It is 
a beautiful spot, surrounded with fruitful, well cultivated gardens and 
farms, there being but little mining carried on in the neighborhood. 
Fiddletown, Forest Home, Lancha Plana, and Volcano, are aU thrifty 
mining towns; the latter with a population of nine hundred, Fiddletown 
and Lancha Plana having each about half that number. 

In a metaliferous point of view Amador is for its size an important 
county; a belt of auriferous earth and rocks about twelve miles wide, 
running entirely across its lower and most populous part. Along the 
westerly edge of this belt rests the Ve(a Madre, in which lies some of 
the most profitable and largely productive quartz claims in the State. 
First among these stands the Eureka, better known of late as the Hay- 
Avard mine, the history of which, apart from the general interest it 



-oi THE NATrK:VL WT.,U,TII OF CULrFOKXIA. 

awakens, is full of instructive and encoiu*aging lessons to all -who now 
do or may contemplate becoming engaged in tbc quartz mining business. 
This claim, first opened in the spring of 1852, was for about one year 
vcorhed with remrmerativo results, after which it not only ceased to be 
profitable, but failed to pay ordinary wages. In November, 18^53, 
Ahaiiza HaAn^-ard purchased an interest in the mine, and becoming 
soon after half owner, continued working it for four years, but with 
such ill results that it had by the end of this time so completely im- 
poverished him that the credit he enjoyed with the local traders was 
due more to his merits as a man than to any confidence felt in the pros- 
pective success of his mine. About this time, however, the character 
of the ores — ^the four hundred foot level having been reached — began to 
improve, and from thence on to the present the mine has continued to 
2>ay with constantly increasing profit; its total product during the past 
ton years having been §3,725,000, of which sum more than one half 
were nett earnings. The working of this claim has tended to establish 
a few very important facts considered in their bearing on this class 
of mines — the lode here, at a vertical depth of more than nine hun- 
dred feet, carrying not only a much heavier body, but a higher grade 
of ore than near the surface, its continuity having been preser\'ed all 
the way down. The ore from this mine yields only about seventeen 
dollars per ton, the broad margin for profit arising out of its great 
abundance, the pay matter varying from sixteen to twenty^ feet in thick- 
ness, and from the facility with which it can be extracted and reduced, 
the gold being found mostly in a free state. The profitable ore in sight 
in this mine is estimated at seven hundred thousand dollars. 

On this belt, lying both to the north and south of the Hayward 
mine, are a number of claims that, through extensive exploration and 
practical working for a series of years, have been proven to possess a 
high value. Of these, the Keystone, near Amador city, owned by J. 
W. Gashwiler, of San Francisco, and others, and which was opened 
even earlier than the Hayward mine, is now yielding, under an exten- 
sive system of working, very ample returns. In 1852 a five-stamp mill, 
afterwards increased to twelve, was put up for crushing the rock from 
this mine. In 1857 this mill was superseded by another of twenty 
stamps, which, becoming much worn through long use, was in 1866 
supplanted by another establishment of similar capacity, but of im- 
proved model and build, which has since been nmning steadily and 
with highly satisfactory results. The deepest working levels on this 
lode are now three hundred and seventy-five feet beneath the surface, at 
which point it is well walled and carries a body of pay matter, varying 



COtTNTIES OP CU^ITOENLV. 255 

from three to twenty-five feet in width, the thickaess here being some- 
what irregular. For sometime prior to 1863 work was suspended on 
this mine owing to the accumulation of water in its lower levels. Hav- 
ing been lelieved of this by the present management, the gross pro- 
duct has since been $600, 000. The dividends for several years past 
have varied from $6,000 to $12,000 per month; the total nett earnings 
disbursed to owners between October, 1865, and the middle of Janu- 
ary, 1868, amounting to $212,000. 

The other mines situated on this mineral range, noted for the marked 
success that has attended their working throughout a niimber of years, 
or for the prospective value that justly attaches to them, are the Enter- 
prise, operating successfully with a ten-stamp water mill — ore averaging 
seven dollars per ton ; the Plymouth, Avorting profitably a twenty- 
stamp steam and water mill, the company having divided $20, 000, on a 
moderate investment, during the jiast five years ; the Potosi, with a 
sixteen-stamp water mill, running steadily and making fair earnings ; 
the Seaton, after a varied fortune, extending through several years, 
during which dividends and assessments alternated in about equal pro- 
portions, now a prosperous, well conducted mine, exhibiting a good 
body of pay ores at a depth of four hundred and eighty feet, operating 
on which the company have erected a forty-stamp mill, furnished with all 
recent appliances and improvements — and in brief, the Italian, Loyal, 
Bunker Hill, Amador, Stanford, Hubbard, Mahoney, Spring Hill, 
Oneida, Wilder and Covey, with perhaps several others, all at present 
in a productive condition, or likely soon to become so. 

Lying within this belt, near its easterly edge, there are also many 
promising quartz veins, some of which have been thoroughly explored, 
and have for many years past been paying well, and in a few cases very 
largely. The most of these mines are situated near the town of Vol- 
cano, in the vicinity of which there are fourteen quartz mills, nearly all 
now operating with success. 

In this and the adjacent districts there are also some hydraulic 
■ claims being worked, though placer mining is not now, in any of its 
branches, carried on extensively in this county, the gulch and river 
diggings having been exhausted long ago. 

The quartz mills now completed in Amador number forty-two, car- 
rying six hundred and thirty-two stamps, the whole erected at an ori- 
ginal cost approximating $750,000. Several of these mills are now run- 
ning on the cement, or on the talcose slate and ochreous gossan found 
at various points in the county, and as these deposits are extensive, it 
seems probable that many others will be put up for the same purpose 



256 THE NATURAL -ffE-ULTU OF CAilFOr.XLV. 

in tlie early future. The era of quariz mining and mill construction 
was inaugurated at a very early period in this county — the first mill put 
up on the old Amador mine in 1851 having been the second establish- 
ment of the kind erected in the State. After encountering the vicis- 
situdes incident to the business in its early stages elsewhere, vein 
mining for gold is now firmly established as a profitable and permanent 
pursuit in this county; which probably holds out as good inducements 
for investing in this industry as any other county in the State. 

Lying on the eastern confijies of Amador, a number of silver bearing 
lodes were discovered some five or six years ago, but as none of them 
TTere ever developed to a productive point, nothing definite is known as 
to their value; though, owing to the great facilities that exist for reduc- 
tion, a very low grade of ores could be worked there with profit, did 
they exist in abundance. 

Copper, about the same time, was fovmd in various parts of the 
county; and although some of the veins proved exceedingly rich, at least 
in their upper portions, this class was not generally of large size. The 
problem of their permanency never having in any case been solved by 
deep exploration, it would be premature to assign this metal, even pros- 
pectively, a prominent place in the mineral staples of the county. 

Marble of different varieties and good quality exists in many parts 
of Amador; and also sandstone, the latter imderlying a terrace-like hill, 
being one of a series near the to^vn of lone, composed chiefly of altern- 
ate strata of clay and gravel, capped with trachyte. The upper part of 
this bed of sandstone is in places so highly ferruginous as to form a 
tolerable iron ore. It is now quarried for fencing and building pur- 
poses, and may in the futm-e be utilized in a more important way. The 
clay strata above mentioned being composed of various colors, is also 
dug out and turned to practical account by being ground and used for 
paint. 

At Fiddletown, Yolcano, and at other places in the county, small 
diamonds have frequently been picked up, some of them worth fifty or 
sixty dollars in the California market. They usually occur in the allu- 
vial drift, and their finding thus far has been accidental, the miners 
meeting with them when washing down their sluices preparatory to 
cleaning up. If this class would take the trouble to familiarize them- 
selves with the appea-rance of the uncut diamond, it is believed many 
more of these gems might be gathered, with no further trouble than 
an increased attention while piu'suing their ordinary vocation. 



COUNTIES OP CALIFOBNIA. 257 

ALPINE COUNTT. 

This county, in view of its great altitude and the rugged and pre- 
cipitous character of the mountains that cover nearly the whole of its 
surface, has been altogether significantly and aptly named. Lying on 
either side of the Sierra Nevada, it covers that range at one of its most 
broken and lofty points; a rugged, and scarcely less elevated spur, 
striking northerly from the main chain crossing its eastern border, 
thereby rendering nearly the entire county one continuous mass of moun- 
tains. Several peaks of the Sierra, within the limits of Alpine reach 
a height of nearly eleven thousand feet; Silver mountain, the loftiest 
portion of this northerly trending spur, being over ten thousand feet 
high. Alpine is bounded on the northeast by the State of Nevada; on 
the south by Mono and Tuolumne ; on the west by Tuolumne, Calaveras 
and Amador, and on the north by El Dorado county; its average length, 
measured north and south, being forty and its breadth thirty-eight miles. 
This county is well watered, the portion lying east of the Sierra being- 
cut in every direction by the two main forks of Carson river and their 
numerous tributaries, the Stanislaus and the Mokelumne both liaving 
their head waters within its limits. Forming the sources of those sev- 
eral streams are numerous small lakes, the most of them situated on 
the summit of the mountain, where it spreads out into a sort of table 
land. Many of them are very wUd and beautiful, being skirted by belts 
of grass or bordered by plats of lawn-like meadow lands. In some 
instances they are destitute of these grassy surroundings, being closely 
hemmed in by dark forests or shadowed by impending cliffs of granite. 
Two of their number, situated near each other, and from this circum- 
stance and the cerulean hue imparted to their waters by their great 
depth, named the Twin Blue Lakes, constitute the head fountains of 
several large streams that make their way westward into the Pacific; 
while, in close proximity, are the sources of the Carson, flowing east- 
ward to be swallowed up in the great deserts of Nevada. Some of 
these lakes are shallow, while others, as we have seen, have a great 
depth; and being fed by the melting snows, never tarnished at these 
great altitudes, are always wondrously clear and pure, rendering them 
the acceptable abode of the coy and delicious mountain trout. They 
all contain fish, and being as well the resort of wild fowl during the 
summer, they form at this season a favorite haunt for the hunter and 
angler. 

There are also in this county many grassy, well watered valleys, 
rendered the more attractive by their rugged and desolate surround- 
17 



258 THE NATUE.\L WEALTH OF C.ILIFOEMA. 

ings. Into these the herdsman from either side drive their cattle for 
pasturage during the summer, removing them as winter approaches, 
the snows in the higher of these valleys always falling to an immense 
depth. Owing to the great altitude of the county, and the limited 
amount of good land it contains, but few attempts are made at culti- 
vating the land, except in the way of raising vegetables, of which, as 
well as of milk, butter and hay, enough are produced for home con- 
sumption. The quantity of land enclosed does not exceed ten or twelve 
thousand acres, the amount so^vn to grain not being over a thousand or 
fifteen hundred. Barley, with irrigation, often yields well, though not 
being ready for the sickle till the month of September. Most kinds of 
berries and a few hardier fruits have been found to thrive here, wild 
currents and several species of berries being indigenous to the country. 
Flax and tobacco are also natives of the soil, and many varieties of 
wild flowers flourish during the short period of summer. 

There being little occasion for grist mills none have ever been erected 
in the county. Neither have any water ditches been constructed, other 
than a few of small capacity designed for irrigating purposes. There are, 
however, thirteen saw mills, some of them of large capacity ; lumber- 
ing in its various branches being, next to mining, the most important 
interest in the county. Apart from the lumber made for sujiplying 
local wants, many thousand saw logs and several thousand cords of fire 
wood are annually cut along the banks of the east fork of Carson river, 
and floated down that stream for supplying the large steam saw mill at 
Empire City, and the immense demand for fuel created by the ore mills 
working the Comstock ores. Alpine abounds in spruce and pine forests, 
the timber on the higher Sierra being of large size, while that on the 
eastern slope and beyond is of inferior quality. 

The great active interest in this county is, however, and always will 
continue to be, vein mining, upon the success of which it must mainly 
depend for whatever advancements it may make in wealth and pros- 
perity. 

The citizens of Alpine have evinced a commendable zeal in the con- 
struction of wagon roads, several of which have been built at gi-eat 
• expense, connecting the more populous districts with Carson and Walk- 
' er river valleys ; and also others, at still heavier cost, across the Sierra 
:leading into California. 

Beside Silver Mountain, the county seat, with a population of three 
^hundred, Alpine contains several other small towns and mining ham- 
lets, of which, Markleeville, having about four hundred inhabitants, is 
the principal. Mogul, and Monitor, are the centers of two important 



COUXTIES OP CALIFOENIA. 259 

mining districts situated near tlie east fork of Carson, the latter having 
a population of two or three hundred. The entire population of the 
county numbers ahout twelve hundred. 

The mines of Alpine consist almost wholly of argentiferous lodes, 
though a few gold bearing veins and masses of quartz have been found, 
some of them of great richness, in the Mogul district. The ledges here 
are usually of large size and crop boldly, being often traceable for miles 
by their surface projections. While a vast amount of work has been 
expended upon them in a small way, but little exploratory labor of a 
thorough and systematic kind has been performed, consequently, scarcely 
a single prominent mine in the county has been fully proven. Several 
have been developed to a point of limited production, but not until 
greater depths shall have been reached can the question of their ore 
yielding capacitj^ and intrinsic value be fully settled. Owing to the 
tremendous upheavals of this region the lodes here, though often strong 
and compact in their surface developements, are probably deep fissured, 
while in many cases they are found to have suffered much displacement 
and disturbance in their upper portions. 

Should they prove persistent in depth, and continue to carry ores of 
no higher grade than are found near the surface, the veins here could 
generally be worked with profit, owing to their immense size and the 
unsurpassed facilities that everywhere exist for the economical extrac- 
tion and reduction of their ores. Running in most cases across the 
tops, or along the slopes of precipitous mountains, they can be opened 
to great depths by comparatively short adit levels driven in from the 
base. Eor example, the Mountain ledge, running parallel with and near 
the crest of the high ridge overlooking the county seat, has been opened 
to a vertical depth of nearly twelve hundred feet below its croppings by 
means of a tunnel scarcely more than fourteen hundred feet in length, 
there being many other lodes in the district equally well situated for 
deep exploration. 

In regard to supplies of wood, whether required for fuel or lumber, 
and also of water, whether to be used for propelling machinery or other 
purposes, Alj)ine is almost without a rival on either the California or 
Nevada side of the Sierra. Three fourths of the county is heavily tim- 
bered with spruce and pine, and more than ten thousand stamps might 
be driven by the water power here found convenient to the principal 
mines. "With such advantages the working of the ores of this region 
could be made highly remunerative, even should they prove of low 
grade, were they only abundant and tolerably tractable. Tested by 
assay they have not generally indicated great richness, though several 



260 THE NATUllAL WEALTH OF CVLIFOENU. 

extensive working trials have given fail* and, in a few instances, large 
results. From the IXL lode, situated on Scandanavian caiion, two 
miles northwest of Silver mountain, one hundred tons of ore ivere, a 
3'ear since, extracted and sold to the neighboring millmen at the rate of 
§100 per ton, delivered at the mouth of the tunnel. From divers small 
lots of this ore, sent to San Francisco for reduction, a smn total of 
S-40, 000 has been extracted. From the Tarshish lode, located near the 
town of Monitor, a large quantity of high grade ore has been raisedj 
and from the number of rich pockets that have been found in this mine 
at no gi'eat depths, it is inferred that larger and equally rich deposits 
will occur at lower levels. 

The ores from this mine having been found intractable to the amal- 
gamating process, furnaces have been erected for treating them by 
smelting — a mode that will probably have to be employed upon a large 
proportion of the contents of other mines in the county, much trouble 
having heretofore been experienced in their management. Should this 
prove to be the case, fuel is fortunately in such ample supply as to ren- 
der reduction by this method everywhere practicable. 

There are three quartz mills in the coimty — one at Markleeville, and 
two near Silver mountain, — the whole carrying twentj'-six stamps, and 
costing about $100,000. Smelting works, on a limited scale, have also 
been put up at Monitor for reducing the ores of the Tarshish mine, 
and which, should it prove successful, will probably be followed by the 
erection of similar establishments elsewhere in the coimty. 

CAIAVEEAS COUNTY. 

This county, which derives its name from the Calaveras river run- 
ning centrally through it, is bordered by Amador on the northwest, by 
Alpine on the northeast, by Tuolumne on the southeast, and by Stanis- 
laus and San Joaquin counties on the southwest. The Mokelumne river 
separates it fi-om Amador, and the Stanislaus river from Tuolumne 
county. It has an average length of forty miles, with a width of about 
twenty; and in everything that relates to topography, soil, cHmate, 
mines, agricultural and other natural productions, is almost the coun- 
terpart of Amador county. Bear mountain, a rocky, wooded range, a 
little more than two thousand feet high, strikes northerly across the 
middle of the county, from the Stanislaus to the Calaveras river, divi- 
'ding this central portion into two sections; the lower, composed of 
abrupt foot-hills that gradually subside into low, rolling praii-ies, as 
they stretch west towards the gi'eat San Joaquin valley, while the upper 
grows more rugged and broken as it extends eastward into the main 



COTTNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 261 

Sierra. The former includes tlie copper mining district, as well, also, 
as many valuable quartz lodes, together with the gossan deposits of 
Quail Hill and Iron mountain. Placer mining is profitably conducted 
at a number of localities within this belt, which, from an early period, 
has been noted for its rich surface diggings. The easterly section is, 
however, the present theatre of more active operations in quartz, there 
being within its limits a large population engaged in this business. 
The upper and steeper slopes of the foot-hills are covered with scat- 
tered groves of oak, interspersed with an inferior species of pine, buck- 
eye, manzanita, and other shrubby trees. Large j)atches are covered 
wholly with the chamiza, an evergreen shrub with a delicate leaf, 
which, seen from afar, gives to the mountains a beautifully dark 
umbrageous appearance. These foot-hills are without running streams 
in the summer, and, although covered in many places with an extremely 
rich soil, and afibrding a considerable amount of grass, are but indiffer- 
ent stock ranges, owing to their aridity. With the exception of the 
Calaveras, wholly diverted from its bed during the dry season for irri- 
gation and mining purposes, there is in the summer no water but such 
as may be found in springs and standing pools, or as is furnished by 
artificial means, between the Stanislaus and Mokelumne rivers, a dis- 
tance of twenty-five miles. Nearly the whole of the county, however, 
except the southern extremity, is well supplied with water through an 
elaborate system of canals; which, obtaining their principal sujDplies 
from the Stanislaus and Mokelumne rivers and their branches, conduct 
this element to all the leading mining camps, where it is employed, not 
only for hydraulic and sluice washing, but to a considerable extent 
also for the propulsion of machinery. There are sixteen of these 
canals, varying in length from seven to fifty miles, and in cost of con- 
struction from $10,000 to $350,000; the largest and most expensive in 
the county, that of the Union Water Company, having cost the latter 
sum. 

A good deal of money has been expended by the citizens of Cala- 
veras in the construction of wagon roads, with which all parts of the 
county are well supplied. Towards the building of the Big Tree and 
Carson Valley road, leading over the Sierra, the people of the county, 
at their general election in 1863, voted an appropriation of $25,000; 
on which occasion a further sum of $50,000 was voted for stibscrip- 
tion to the capital stock of the Stockton and Copperopolis railroad. 

Lumbering is carried on here to a moderate extent, there being ten 
saw-mills in the county. All but three are driven by steam, and sev- 
eral have a capacity to make between twenty-five and thirty thousand 



262 THE NATtlKAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEXIA. 

feet of lumber daily. There are a number of small iron foundries, 
tanneries, and similar establishments in tlie county, but manufactur- 
ing generally is not largely engaged in. 

Agi-iculture, viniculture, and stocla-aising receive a good deal of 
attention in Calaveras, many portions of the foot-hills being well suited 
to the growth of the cereals ; while in the valleys along the streams 
and in the mountains, a wide variety of fruits, berries, and vegetables 
find a congenial home. In the year 1867 there were about 70,000 acres 
of land enclosed, of which nearly one half was under cultivation, the 
principal grains raised being wheat and bai'ley. The assessment roll 
for the same year footed up nearly $2,000,000, exclusive of mines. 

The population of Calaveras is estimated at 14,000, of whom a large 
proportion, fully one sixth, are Chinamen. Nearly all of these people, 
as well as two thirds of the whites, are engaged in mining, this being 
the leading pursuit of the inhabitants. 

Mokelumne Hill, a thriving town, situated near its territorial centre, 
contains about twelve hundred inhabitants. The lich placers once 
found in its vicinity are now pretty well exhausted, still there are 
many claims being worked in the deep banks and fiats near by, some 
of which continue to yield liberally and will last for many years to come. 

San Andreas, with a population of twelve hundred, one third of them 
Chinamen, is located ten miles southwest of Mokelumne Hill, from which 
it does not materially differ in its siu-roundings. Some rich gold bear- 
ing quartz and cement mines have been discovered within a few miles of 
the town, for the crushing of which several mills have been erected ; 
and, judging from the favorable results thus far obtained, there is little 
doubt but others will shortly follow. 

In tlie vicinity of West Point, a prosperous and growing mining 
town seventeen miles east of Mokelumne Hill, there is a broad scope 
of exceedingly rich quartz veins, and also deposits of auriferous gravel 
which promise to furnish profitable hydravdic mining for years. Exten- 
sive crushings made of the quartz obtained from lodes at Eailroad 
Flat, and other localities in the neighborhood of West Point, establish 
for this a high character as a quartz mining section, the yield ranging 
from twenty to one hundred dollars per ton, very much of it exceeding 
fifty dollars to the ton. 

Vallecito, Jenny Lind, and Campo Seco, each with a population 
of between three and five hundred ; Clay's Bar and Chile Gulch, with 
a population of three hundred each, and Piich Gulch, with scarcely so 
many, are all in the midst of placer diggings, once extremely rich,, and 
some of which still continue to pay fair wages. There is also consid- 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOKNIA. 263 

erable attention being paid in some of these districts to the business 
of quartz mining, additions being constantly made to the mills now in 
operation. Bailroad Flat, Altaville, Fourth Crossing, Poverty Bar, 
Eobinson's Ferry, and Musquito, are all mining hamlets, with from fifty 
to two hundred inhabitants residing in and immediately about them, 
and surrounded with mines similar in character, though generally of 
less extent to those in the vicinity of the larger towns just described. 

Angel's Camp, twenty miles south of the county seat, containing 
about six hundred inhabitants, is one of the earliest settled towns in 
the county. Growing suddenly up under the support afforded by the 
rich placers about it, and flourishing for many years, it gradually 
declined as the diggings around it became impoverished, until the 
inhabitants, ten years ago, amounted to scarcely one half their' present 
number. After languishing in this reduced condition for several years, 
the surface placers nearly exhausted and property depreciated to mere 
nominal prices, the attention of the mining public began to be attracted 
to the business of opening and working the quartz veins that abound 
in the neighborhood. The early efforts directed to this end were not, 
however, more successful here than elsewhere in the State, much fruit- 
less experimenting having been made and much money spent before 
these first endeavors were rewarded with even a moderate degree of 
success. At length, however, this interest has been placed upon a 
permanent and prosperous footing ; and although the average yield of 
the ore here is not large, only from six to' ten dollars to the ton, the 
mills, of which there are five near the town, are all being run with 
profit ; the earnings of one or two, working a higher grade of ore than 
the average, being quite large. 

As an example of what the better class of mines, when well man- 
aged, are able to accomplish at this camp, we instance that of the 
Bovee claim, which, aided by a ten stamp mill, turned out $44, 528 for 
the ten months ending with January 1st, 1868, the total expenditures 
on account of this production, including some of an extraordinary 
cTaaracter, having been $25, 512. This lode is now opened to a vertical 
depth of one hundred and fifty feet ; having increased steadily in vol- 
ume from the surface down, the ores undergoing, at the same time, a 
corresponding improvement, having advanced from an average yield of 
fifteen dollars on top to over twenty dollars at present working depths. 
And as the same general experience has attended the development and 
working of other veins in the vicinity, it is inferred that they will all 
yield a much higher grade, and a larger amount of ore, when more 
considerable depths are attained. 



264 THE NATTJKAL WEALTH OF CALirOR>rU.. 

If 

Under the stimulus of this new interest, Angels Camp has during 
the past few years not only advanced in population, but has exhibited 
other marked evidences of improvement, many cottages having been 
erected by the miners, who find employment in the service of the' 
quartz companies, and much planting of trees and vines having been 
practiced, to the beautifying and enrichment of the place. These 
remarks, while they apply Avith peculiar force to Angels, might bo 
employed with more or less truth in speaking of Murphy's Camp, and 
several other towns in the coiuity, including most of those already 
alluded to. 

Carson Hill, justly styled by Professor "Whitney, because of its 
early fame, the classic mining ground of California, lies five miles 
southwest of Angels Camp, looking down from its lofty eminence upon 
the dark waters of the Stanislaus, flowing more than a thousand feet 
below. From no space of equal dimensions, perhaps, in the State has 
more gold been taken out than from the Morgan ground, the discovery 
claim on this hill ; the sum extracted, with simple appliances and at 
small expense, between the time of its discovery, in 1850, and the year 
1858, having approximated $2,000,000; the amount taken from the 
Madam Martinez claim, near by, and under nearly similar circum- 
stances, having been over $1, 000, 000 during a period of less than three 
years. The total amount of bullion obtained from this hill is estimated 
at over $4,000,000, though the working of most of the claims, of which 
there are a number besides the above, have been greatly interfered 
with by injudicious management and vexatious litigation. 

At Frankfort, formerly Cat Camp, in «the vicinity of Camanche, an 
old mining town of about four hundred inhabitants, situated twenty- 
two miles southwest of the county seat, there were discovered in the 
summer of 1867 a great extent of surface placers, which it was believed 
from careful prospecting would pay fair wages. A branch ditch having 
been completed in December of that year, carrying water into this dis- 
trict, a population of several hundred previously attracted to it were 
washing with good average results duriug the following winter and 
spring, with a prospect of having remunerative work before them for a 
number of years. 

Copperopolis, the business center of the rich and extensive copper 
mines in this county, is situated t^venty-eight miles southwest of Mokel- 
umne Hill. Its present population is about eight himdred, somewhat 
less than it was a few years since, when operations were much more 
active than they have been of late. The town, having suffered severely 
from fire nearly two years ago, has not since been fully rebuilt, though 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 265 

there is little doubt but it will noi; only regain its former full propor- 
tions, but much enlarge the same, as well as experience a restoration 
of its former business activity, when the prices of copper ores shall 
have recovered from their present extreme depression. 

Telegraph City, situated on the Stockton road, six miles west of Cop- 
peropolis, and on the more westerly and least important of the two 
cupriferous belts extending north and south across the county, contains 
about two hundred inhabitants; its population and business having 
experienced a material falling off during the past two years, from the 
same causes that have operated to the detriment of its more advanced 
neighbor. 

Of the cupriferous deposits on these twin ranges, separated by Salt 
Spring valley, it may suffice in this place to say, the average of ores 
obtained have been of very fair grade, ranging at first, as sent to market, 
from fifteen to twenty-five per cent., and latterly from twelve to fifteen 
per cent, of metal. "While none of these veins can be said to have been 
sufficiently proven to establish their permanency beyond contingency, 
it is well settled that many of them, though rich in metal, are mere lenti- 
ctdar masses of no great magnitude, and consequently of but little 
value. That others, however, will be found more persistent, hardly 
admits of a question, shafts having been sunk on a number of them to 
the depth of several hundred feet, without serious displacements or con- 
tractions in the vein matter being encountered. At one time, during 
the heat of the excitement that sprang up soon after the discovery ol 
these mines, they were sold freely at rates varying from $500 to $2,000 
per linear foot. At present, owing to their unproductive condition, 
the best of them are without any certain value in tlie mining share mar- 
ket, a state of things that it is believed, cannot ' be of long continu- 
ance. 

A few years since a bed of opals was discovered in Stockton Hill, 
an eminence near the county seat, from which a French company, claim-' 
ing and working the same, have since extracted a large number of these 
stones, some of them said to be of considerable value. It does not 
appear that the precious opal has yet been found here, though experts 
and geologists are of the opinion that these gems will be met with when 
the stratum is more fully explored. 

One of the greatest curiosities in California, and, indeed, of its kind 
in the world, consists of the Big Tree grove, situated on the divide 
between the middle fork of the Stanislaus and the Calaveras river, 
about twenty miles east of Mokelumne Hill, and at an elevation of four 
thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine feet above the level of the sea. 



26G THE NATUE.VL WEALTH OF CU^IFOENIA. 

The number of tliese trees, a species of redwood bearing the botanical 
name of the Sequoia Gigantea, is ninety-two, ten of which are at least 
thirty feet in diameter ; eighty-two having a diameter varying from 
fifteen to thirty feet. Their height, as they now stand, ranges from one 
hundred and fifty to three hundred and twenty-seven feet, the tops of 
many of the more aged having been broken ofi" by the tempests or snow. 
The original height of some is believed to have been over four hun- 
hundred and fifty feet, and their diameter at least forty feet. Through 
the prostrate trunk of one of these trees, which has been hollowed out 
by fire, a man can ride on horseback for a distance of seventy-five feet. 
Some years ago one of the largest of the number then standing was cut 
down, with a view to secure transverse sections of the trunk for exhi- 
bition. It was ninety-two feet in circumference and three hundred feet 
high, and it required the constant labor of five men for twenty-two days 
to fell it — the work being accomplished by means of boring -with long 
augers. At the same time, another tree of nearly equal dimensions, 
was stripped of its bark for a distance of one hundred and sixteen feel^ 
from the ground, a lofty staging having been erected about it for the 
purpose. The bark was taken off in longitudinal sections, which being 
afterwards replaced in their proper order, reproduced the exterior of 
this giant of the forest — having much the appearance that it presented 
while growing. Such was the wonderful vitality of this tree that many 
of the branches still continued green for seven or eight years after 
this extensive mutilation. 

By carefully counting the concentric rings, ^denoting the annual 
growth of these trees, their age is found to vary from one thousand two 
hundred to two thousand five hundred years. In some places these 
trees are separated by spaces of several rods, while in others they stand 
quite close together, some being united at the roots, and having grown 
almost into one, which, when they first sprouted, were twenty or thirty 
•foet asunder. 

The Sequoia Gigantea has two sets of leaves — the one small and 
shaped something like those of the spruce or hemlock, and the other 
shorter and of triangular form, the cones being scarcely larger than a 
hen's egg. The bark is very much like that of the cedar family, and 
is generally from six to eighteen inches thick, according to the age of 
the tree. The wood in nearly every particular, except odor, resembles 
red cedar. 

The Calaveras grove, though really one of the most remarkable, 
and, from its accessibility, by far the most frequented, is not the only 
one in this State, there being three groups of Big Trees in Mariposa, 



UOHNTIES OF CALUOENIA. 267 

one in Tuolumne, and another in Tulare county, AV'ith, perhaps, others 
not yet discovered in the adjacent but less explored portions of the 
Sierra Nevada. 

TDOLUIENE COUNTY. 

As we proceed south along the great mineral belt, the counties fur- 
ther north, mostly of limited area, begin, after passing Calaveras, to 
increase in size — Tuolumne having an average length of sixty with a 
width of thirty-five miles. It lies between Calaveras and Alpine on 
the north, and Mariposa on the south, and between Mono on the east 
and Stanislaus and Calaveras on the west. In its topography and pro- 
ductions it is so nearly assimilated to the mining counties further north, 
already gone over, as to require little more to be said on these points. 

The Stanislaus river separates this county from Calaveras on the 
northwest, the south and middle forks of that stream and the Tuol- 
umne with its branches running across the county in a southwesterly 
course, cutting it with numerous deep canons. Both these rivers, as 
well as many of their confluents, carry heavy bodies of water at all 
seasons of the year; and, heading high up in the Sierra Nevada, become, 
when swollen by sudden rains or the melting of the summer snows, 
large and rapid streams, rising often in the mountain gorges to an 
immense height above ordinary stages, and overflowing their banks 
after they have descended into the plains. 

This county has been pronounced by the State Geological Survey 
one of the richest fields for scientific study to be found in the State ; 
more of the remains of the mastodon, elephant, and other large ani- 
mals being found in the district northwest of Columbia than in any 
other locality in CalifoBnia, with the exception of Kincaid Flat. At 
Texas Flat there is a vast accumulation of calcareous tufa formed over 
the auriferous gravel, in an ancient gulch emptying into the Stanislaus, 
when that river was at a much higher level than at present. This same 
formation occurs on the bank of the Stanislaus, where it rises in pictur- 
esque cavernous cliffs resembling coral reefs. In this tufa are found 
the bones and teeth not only of the above gigantic animals, but also of 
the horse and other mammalia, together with land and fresh water 
shells. 

One of the most striking features in the topography and geology of 
this county is the "Table Mountain," masses of basaltic lava with 
perpendicular sides and flat on the top, which extend for a distance of 
nearly thirty miles with their windings. The top of this mountain is 
elevated about two thousand feet above the Stanislaus river, near which 



268 THE NATITE.VL WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA. 

it runs a good part of the distance, this stream frequently breaking 
tlirougli it. It varies in width from twelve hundred to eighteen hun- 
dred feet ; the basaltic mass forming the Table Mountain proper being 
about one hundred and fifty feet thick. This portion, which has per- 
pendicular sides, stands on a deep bed of detrital matter that slopes 
from its base down to the river or the country adjacent. 

The space occupied by this wall-like mountain was once the channel 
of an ancient river having precipitovis banks. At a point on the latter 
where this formation begins, a stream of lava ejected from a neighbor- 
ing volcano entered it, and flowing steadily down filled it full. The 
country along the banks of this stream, consisting doubtless at that 
period of high mountain ranges, has since been eroded by the action 
of the elements and all washed away, leaving this moimtain, composed 
of more solid matter, standing in the condition we now find it. What 
strengthens the presumption that these singular formations occupy 
the ■ beds of former rivers, is the fact that the bed rock beneath them 
is water worn, after the manner of fluvial action, and contains rich 
deposits of washed gold ; many of the best paying mines in the county, 
consisting of these old channels, are now regularly worked by an elab- 
orate system of shafts and tunnels. 

Although the leading jDursuit of this county is mining, it contains 
many small, well tilled farms, together with fruitful gardens, orchards 
and vineyards — Tuolumne being distinguished for the excellence and 
abundance of its fruits and grapes. 

The amoimt of land enclosed was estimated in 1867 at thirty-five 
thousand acres, of which about twelve thousand were under cultiva- 
tion — all the cereals usually raised in California being planted. Much 
stock is also kept in this county, the dairy products being ample for 
every home demand. 

Lumbering is also extensively carried on, large quantities of sawed 
timber and shingles, after the local consumption is met, being annually 
sent to Stockton for a market. There are sixteen saw mills in the 
county, seven of which are driven by water and nine by steam. Their 
cost has varied from two thousand to twenty thousand dollars each, 
several having capacity to cut eight thousand feet of lumber daily. 

A number of costly roads have been built in Tuolnmne, towards 
the construction of which the coimty has in some instances lent its 
corporate assistance. One of these roads extends across the Sierra 
to Mono county, and being the shortest wagon route between tide 
water and the Esmeralda mining region, is likely to command consider- 
able travel hereafter. Already it has served as a convenient channel 



COUXTIES OF CALrPOKNIA. 269 

for transporting tlie fruits and surplus farming products of Tuolumne 
to the mining towns and camps east of the mountains, where they 
always command a ready sale at remuneratiye prices. 

Tuolumne contains a population of about fifteen thousand, of whom 
a considerable portion are Chinamen. Sonora, the county seat, num- 
bers about two thousand five hundred inhabitants. The place was 
first settled in the summer of 1848 by a company of miners from 
Sonora, Mexico — hence the name. So rapidly did it grow in conse- 
quence of the extremely rich placers found around it, that in a little 
more than one year it contained nearly five thousand inhabitants. 
Sonora has suffered its full share from conflagrations, the greater por- 
tion of it having been several times destroyed by fire. For many 
years past the mines in the vicinity have been considerably depleted, 
yet it still continues to be the base of supply for a large circle of 
mining country about it. 

The town of Colurnbia, four miles north of Sonora, and containing 
a little more than half the population of the latter, is surrounded by 
a similar character of mines, and has a history not very unlike that of 
its neighbor, though not settled for nearly a year and a half later. 

Shaw's Flat and Springfield are small towns between Sonora and 
Columbia, having an aggregate population of three or four hundred. 
Jamestown, a hamlet of several hundred inhabitants, five miles south 
of the county seat, was early settled, and for several years was the 
center of an exceedingly prolific placer district. In the neighborhood 
extensive tunnels have been driven under Table Mountain, overlooking 
it from the north. 

Montezuma, Chinese Camp, Jacksonville, Tuttletown, Gold Spring, 
Poverty Hill, Big Oak Flat, and Garote, have all been in their day 
mining towns of note, containing from five hundred to one thousliid 
inhabitants, and some of them for a short time many more. They 
have nearly all, however, declined, as the diggings about them grew 
poorer, until some have not now half their former population. With 
the discovery of quartz they are generally beginning to revive, and it 
is not improbable that many will, in the course of a few years, contain 
even a greater number of inhabitants and become more prosperous 
than before. 

Connected with the early history of these towns, as well also as 
with that of various smaller places in the county, are many strange 
and tragic events, the original population of this region having been 
largely made up of rough and desperate characters collected from all 
parts of the world. Hither flocked the people of Spanish origin, 



270 THE NATLTiAL ■WE.VLTII OF C.VLIFOr.NIA. 

aclventnrcrs wlio had spent tbcir lives on the southern and western 
frontiers, and hither swarmed the gamblers and men of desperate for- 
tunes from every land under the sun ; the very character of the dig- 
gings, rich beyond example, but less certain than elsewhere, natu- 
rally serving to attract these classes to this quarter. A record of the 
rich strikes, the popidar tumults, the deadly affrays, the executions 
without law, and the murders without punishment, that occurred dur- 
ing these early times, would fill a large volume. All those excitements 
— those exhibitions of private vengeance and popular passion — those 
scenes of ferocity, violence and crime, that have given California such 
unenviable notoriety, found here their most frequent and forcible 
illustration. Yet, notwithstanding these scenes of turbulence and crime, 
and the many unhappy events connected with the i:)rimitive history of 
this country, the present inhabitants of Tuolumne are not, perhaps, 
in the matter of social and moral standing, behind any other commu- 
nity in the State. 

Placer mining, except as performed by hydraulic washing, or through 
shafts and tunnels reaching into the ancient river channels and gravel 
beds, is not now extensively practiced in this county. By the above 
means, however, as well as by a considerable amount of surface wash- 
ing performed in certain localities during the winter, large quantities 
of gold are annually taken out ; and as the bank diggings are in many 
places very deep, and the auriferoiis gravel of great probable extent, 
this branch of mining seems likely t'o be pursued here for an indefinite 
period, and with at least moderately good results. 

Among the quartz lodes that have from time to time been signalized 
by unwonted success, is the Soulsby claim, near Sonora, which, several 
years ago was conspicuous in this respect. A multitude of ledges are 
noV being worked along the auriferous belt that crosses the county, 
generally with fair, and often with munificent returns. There are now 
forty-eight quartz mills in operation, carrying five hundred and forty 
stamps — the whole erected at an aggregate cost of about $550, 000. 

Situated on the mother lode, striking across the westerly end of this 
county, are a number of quartz claims, that, tested by a successful expe- 
rience of several years, may justly claim to rank among the leading 
mines of the county if not also of the State. In this catagory stands 
the Kawhide Ranch claim, lying on the west side of Table Mountain, 
a few miles west of Sonora. The lode, having an average width of 
twelve feet, has been explored to a depth of about three hundred feet 
by a main shaft, from the bottom of which drifts have been run nearly 
one hundred feet, disclosing in this level a heavy compact mass of 



COUNTIES OP CALITOKNIA. 271 

Tein matter. A well appointed twenty-stamp mill lias been running 
OL tlie ores, wMch, during the past three years, have varied in their 
yield from seven to forty-four dollars per ton. Connected with the 
mine is a tract of five hundred acres of partially timbered land. 

One mile south of Jamestown, also situated on the great crowning 
vein of the county, and covering what seems to be one of its more 
enriched portions, is the Dutch mine, so called from the nationality of 
the former owners, and by whom it was sold to M. B. Silver, the pres- 
ent proprietor. On the surface it is composed of four parallel veins, 
all of which, from their proximity and angle of pitch, it is thought 
will finally unite in one masterly lode. The mine, though not exten- 
sively developed, has been sufficiently prospected to establish its per- 
manency and great probable value ; the uniform yield of the ore, of 
which the quantity is very large, having been fifteen dollars to the ton, 
the gold being free and easily saved by the most simple and inexpen- 
sive methods. The ores have been worked for five years jDast with a 
ten-stamp mill ; a much larger establishment being required to render 
even a tithe of the productive capacities of this mine available. 

The App mine, adjoining that last described on the south, and 
differing but little from it in its main features, has been worked for 
the past nine years with imiformly good results. During this time nine 
thousand tons of ore were crushed, yielding $140, 000, or an average of 
$15 50 per ton — the cost of mining and milling having been about 
$67,000. 

From the Golden Eule mine, tying a few miles south of the App 
claim, there were raised during the year 1866, three thousand tons of ore, 
which yielded $32, 654:, having been at the rate of $10 75 per ton. The 
quantity of ore taken out and reduced the following year, at the com- 
pany's mill, was three thousand two hundred and forty-four tons, which 
yielded $38,868 — nearly $12 per ton — the cost of mining and milling 
having been less than $7 per ton. Five dividends were made during 
1867, of $1,450 each, the company having, in January, 1868, a surplus in 
bank of $11,000, to be applied to construction account. 

Tuolumne has within its limits six main trunk water ditches, vary- 
ing in length from seven to one hundred miles. Several of these are 
works of magnitude, and required the expenditure of large sums of 
money in their construction. The Big Oak Flat canal, forty miles long, 
cost over $600, 000 ; the ditch of the Tuolumne County Water company, 
but thirty-five miles long, having cost $550,000. The distributing 
branches of these canals have an aggregate length far exceeding that 



272 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALDFORXU. 

of the mains themselves, and also called for heavy expenditures in their 
construction. 

Two miles north of Columbia are extensive beds of marble. It is 
of many varieties— some joure white, others blue, veined, clouded or 
pencilled : and all, where taken from a few feet beneath the surface, of 
a fine, close texture. Large quantities have been quarried and sent to 
market, having previously been sawed into slabs at a mill near by, 
erected for the purpose. Such is the compactness of the material, and 
the depth of the beds, that blocks of any desired size can be taken out 
— one weighing thirteen thousand pounds having been quarried and 
dressed. 

Near Sonora there is a deposit of plumbago, from which it is thought 
a merchantable article of gi-aphite may be obtained, at least in limited 
quantities, by carefully washing it to relieve it of its earthy impuri- 
ties. Some of it is said to have already met with sale in markets 
abroad, being bought, most likely, for manufacturing crucibles, stove 
blacking, or similar purposes. 

Recently a stratum of soap stone has been found near Sonora, said 
to be well adapted for the lining of smelting works. The deposit is 
abundant, and promises to be extensively worked — the trials of this 
material which have been made having proved satisfactory. 

MARIPOSA COTJNTY. 

This county received its name from an extensive Mexican gi-ant, 
called "Las Mariposas," lying within its limits at the time of its crea- 
tion, then claimed by, and since confirmed by tlie United States gov- 
ernment to John C. Fremont. Marijwsa is a Spanish word, signifying 
a butterfly in that language. This county is bounded by Tuolumne on 
the north, by Mono on the east, by Fresno on the south, and by Mer- 
ced on the west. It measiires sixty-five miles, east and west, and about 
twentj'-eight north and south — the eastern part rising into the lofty 
Sierra, while the western sinks almost to a level with the San Joaquin 
plains. Covering some of the wildest and highest portions of the great 
snowy range, the scenery in the eastern section of the county is among 
the grandest in the State. Here stands Mount Dana, 13,227 feet high; 
Mount Hoffman, 10, 872 feet high, and Cathedral Peak, 11, 000 feet high. 
In this region the Merced, the San Joaquin, and the main fork of the 
Tuolumne river take their rise, the former running centrally through 
nearly the whole length of the county. The Chowchilla river, a small 
stream in summer, being at this season nearly dry, soiDarates Mariposa 
from Fresno. 



COUNTIES OP CALIFOBNIA. 273 

Tkroughout tlie mining districts, where most of tlie population is 
found, there are many good wagon roads, but none have been built lead- 
ing over the Sierra — the only communication with Mono county being 
afforded by a trail leading through the Mono Pass, the lowest point on 
which is 10, 765 feet high. This trail is much used by horsemen and 
pack trains in the summer, being impassable at other seasons on 
account of the snow. 

The towns of Mariposa are neither large in size or number, many 
of them having during the past ten years shrunken much from their 
former proportions, and mining camps, once busy and populous, are 
now nearly deserted. The number of inhabitants in the county, once 
nine or ten thousand, does not at present much exceed half that num- 
ber. The population of the principal towns may be set down at about 
the following figures : Mariposa, the county seat, 800 ; Hornitos, 
twenty miles to the northwest, 700 ; Coulterville, twenty-one miles 
north of the county seat, 500; and Bear Valley, twelve miles northwest, 
400. Princeton, Mount Bullion, Indian Gulch, Mount Ophir, Agua 
Frio, Colorado, and Mormon Bar, are mining hamlets containing from 
fifty to three hundred inhabitants each, some of these places having 
fallen into almost hopeless decay through the utter exhaustion of the 
once rich placers and the absence of quartz lodes in their vicinity; 
while others, through the rejuvenating influence of quartz mining 
operations prosecuted in their neighborhood, are slowly increasing in 
business and population ; and there is much to warrant the belief that 
many of these villages will experience a rapid growth, and others be . 
founded along the heavy quartz zone that crosses the county, at a 
period not distant in the future. 

All the eastern end of this county is heavily timbered with the sev- 
eral varieties of pine, spruce, and cedar found further north ; the lower 
half being more sparsely wooded, the extreme western section almost 
without trees of any kind whatever. The county contains eight saw 
mills, all of limited capacity, the quantity of lumber required for home 
use being small, and none being made for transportation abroad. 

Mariposa contains but comparatively little good farming land, 
though there is a considerable scope of alluvial soil along the streams 
in the edge of the foothills, and many small fertile valleys further in 
the interior, which afford, under a careful system of cultivation, all 
the fruits, vegetables, and dairy products required by the inhabitants, 
there being also a good deal of barley, wheat, and oats raised every 
year. Of the twenty-five thousand acres of land enclosed in the year 
1867, about eight thousand were subjected to tillage, the yield of the 
18 



274 THE NATUBAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEIttA. 

cereals being fully up to the average througliout tlie State. As yet 
there has been no flour mill erected in this county, the mills in Mer- 
ced, adjoining, being sufliciently near to accommodate the farmers of 
Mariposa. ' There is but little stock kept here, and, although fruits of 
all kinds thrive wherever planted, only enough is raised to serve local 
wants. 

The substantial wealth of Mariposa rests in its mines of auriferous 
quartz, which are hardly second in point of number and productive 
capacity to those of any other county in the State. Its placers even, 
at first of but moclerate extent, and belonging to the class denomi- 
nated "spotted," speaking in miner's parlance, were, perhaps, in 
places, among the most prolific ever found. Being rich, shallow, and 
hence easily wrought, they naturally attracted that class, who, prone 
to take desperate chances, are apt to exhibit more or less of the des- 
perado in their every day conduct ; wherefore the character of the 
early inhabitants of this region conformed strongly to that remarked 
upon when speaking of the pioneer settlers of Tuolumne county. 
Theft, murder, and general lawlessness and crime, during the early day, 
here reigned supreme. But the social atmosphere has become purged 
of these elements of violence — -death, penal law, and emigration to 
more genial localities having long since wrought their effectual work, 
Mariposa is now scarcely behind her neighbors in the matter of moral 
purity and good order. 

Owing to the speedy depletion of the shallow placers and the lack 
of extensive bank diggings and gravel beds, but little hydraulic wash- 
ing or tunneling has been practiced in this county ; and, as a conse- 
quence, but few canals or water ditches, the necessary auxiliaries to 
this branch of mining, have been constructed. The entire length of 
these works does not cover a linear extent of over forty miles — the total 
amount of money expended upon them in the county having been less 
than $30,000. It is the opinion of very competent judges that there 
are heavy banks of auriferous detritus, as well as gravel deposits, in 
Mariposa, and that large and profitable workings might be afforded by 
these were water for washing once introduced. Acting on this belief, 
primary steps have been taken for the purpose of conducting this ele- 
ment, of which there is an abundance, easily obtainable, into some of 
the more promising placer districts. 

Striking across the western extremity of this county, maintaining 
its usual north-northwesterly and south-southeasterly bearings, the 
Veta Madre of the great auriferous range of the State displays itself 
with great power. On the Fremont grant, consisting of forty-eight 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOKNIA. 275 

tliousancl acres, this lode is separated into two strong veins, known as 
the Pine Tree and Josephine, which at points along the range unite 
and form the crowning lode of the country. 

Tlie following exhibit of the yield obtained by a number of com- 
panies engaged in raising and milling ores from this vein, being gen- 
eral in its character, and spread over a considerable period, may, per- 
haps, be accepted as safe data in calculating the results that would be 
likely to attend the working of claims situated elsewhere on this lode : 
The Mariposa Company own four mills of the following capacity, viz : 
the. Benton, sixty-four stamps ; the Mariposa, fifty stamps ; the Prince- 
ton, twenty-eight stamps, and the Bear Valley, ten stamps. They are 
all well appointed establishments, the first driven by water and the 
others by steam. They are situated near the mines of the company, 
which consist of the Josephine, Pine Tree, Mount Ophir, Mariposa, 
and Princeton, all on the mother lode, and capable of supplying, under 
present developments, two hundred tons of ore daily ; though the 
quantity might easily be increased to three or four thousand, such is 
the body of pay matter carried by these veins. 

Under former management, running through several years, during 
which the ores from the Josephine and Pine Tree lodes were exten- 
sively worked, the gi-oss average yield obtained was but about eight 
and a half dollars per ton, a sum — as labor and material were then 
rather more costly than at present, that left but small margin for profit. 
Since this property passed into other hands, a new mode of amalgama- 
tion, known as the "Eureka process," having been adopted at the 
Bear Valley mill, the following results were obtained ; eight hundred 
tons of ore from the Josephine mine, which before had proved of a 
somewhat lower grade than that from the Pine Tree, worked by the 
new method prior to September, 1867, gave an average yield of $40 53; 
the average yield of one thousand tons for the following three months 
having been $30 per ton — a rate, which it is thought, can hereafter be 
steadily kept up. Tlie company have since made arrangements for intro- 
ducing this process into their other mills. 

The Crown Lead company, owning no less than fourteen thousand 
four hundred and fifty linear feet, all upon the main gold bearing belt, 
and extremely well situated for easy development, have erected, at an 
expense of §50, 000, a twenty-stamp mill and dam, their works being on 
the Merced river, near which also their mine is located. Prior to their 
coming into possession of this property, appurtenant to which is a tract 
of six hundred acres of timber land, large sums were expended for the 
piirpose of prospecting the mine, the erection of a mill, etc. The most 



276 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

of this work, however, having been injudiciously applied and the mill 
having been swept away by a flood, the former owners accomplished 
but little either in the way of developing their mine or working its ores. 
Enough, however, has since been effected to establish for this property 
a very high A'alue, though active operations have for some time been 
suspended iipon it. 

The Oakes and Reese mine, owned by Messrs. L. L. Robinson and 
Hall McAllister, of San Francisco, and lying on the same belt with the 
claims of the Mariposa Company, is another of those mines, which, after 
years of failure or but partial success, have, under a better administra- 
tion or in the hands of men of more ample means, been speedily con- 
verted into highly productive properties. The lode now being worked, 
one of eight owned by the proprietors, is from two to six feet thick, has 
been thoroughly developed and powerful hoisting works have been 
erected, and a ten-stamp mill, with driving power for a much larger 
number, has been put up ; the total expenditure, exclusive of purchase 
money for the mine, having been $110, 000. The ore, of which there is 
a heavy body, has thus far ranged from $20 to S40 per ton, the bullion 
product for the month of January, 1868, having been $32, 500. 

Situated near the southeasterly line of the county, on the Merced 
river, is the valley of the Yosemite, with its stupendous surroundings. 
Here, within a space less than twenty miles long and ten miles wide, 
are presented more picturesque, grand and beautiful scenery — ^moro 
striking and original views than are perhaps to be found within any 
similar area in the world. If travelers may be credited, -^Ndthin no 
other compass so narrow on the face of the globe, have so many high 
and steep precipices, such lofty cascades and awful chasms, such deep 
and beautiful valleys overlooked by so many towering domes, high bas- 
tions and splintered spires, all of bold and glistening granite, been 
grouped together as in and around this valley of the Tosemite. The 
name is of Indian origin, and should be pronounced with four syllables, 
accenting the second. 

Geographically, this spot is said to be "veiy near the middle of the 
State, measured north and south, and exactly in the center of the Sierra 
Nevada, it being thirty-five miles to either base. It is one hundred and 
forty miles, in a direct line, a little south of east from San Francisco; 
the distance by the usually traveled route, via Stockton and Coulterville, 
or Mariposa, being about two hundred and fifty miles. The valley 
proper, which has an elevation of four thousand and sixty feet above 
the level of the sea, is eight miles long and from half a mile to one 
mile wide; the greatest breadth being near its middle, where it is three 



COTOfTIES OP CALIFOKOTA. 277 

miles across, and whence it tapers gradually towards eacli end. It is 
so nearly level that the Merced river, running through it, moves with a 
gentle current, expanding at several points into little lakes, the water 
so perfectly pure that it reflects the surrounding peaks and cliffs with 
wonderfid distinctness. This river, at all seasons a considerable stream, 
is greatly swollen in the latter part of the spring and the early summer, 
when the snow on the mountains above is melting, which is, therefore, 
the most favorable season for visiting the valley, as the several falls, 
one of its chief attractions, are then displayed to best advantage. 

Entering the valley at its lower or westerly end by a descent of two 
thousand feet down a steep mountain trail, its course for the first six 
miles is northeast, when it makes a sharp angle, and runs nearly south- 
east. At its lower extremity, the flat land ceasing, all semblance of a 
valley is lost in a canon, so deep and precipitously walled that it may 
be pronounced inaccessible. Proceeding up the valley, iemmed in by 
walls of yellowish granite, from two thousand to four thousand feet 
high, the first conspicuous object met with is the "Pohono" — by some 
called the Bridal Veil Fall, on the right hand side, with the Cathedral 
Eock, about three thousand feet high, standing behind it. On the 
other side of the valley is the Tutucanula, or "El Capitan" cliff) an 
almost perpendicular, bastion-like mass, lifting itself three thousand 
three hundred feet above the level of the valley. Proceeding onward, 
a little above the "Pohono" FaU, the Cathedral Eock, backed by the 
Cathedral Spires — two slender columns of granite — is passed, and we 
arrive, two miles above, at a group of peaks standing on the other side 
of the valley, to which the name "Three Brothers" has been given. 
From the loftiest of these — four thousand feet high — ^more than eight 
thousand feet above the level of the sea, is to be obtained one of the 
best views of the valley and its immediate surroundings, including also 
the towering summits of the Sierra, in the background. 

Standing over against this group, and near the angle where the val- 
ley, turning, trends to the southeast, is a cluster of prominent cliffs, 
the top of the highest three thousand feet above its base, and which, 
from its having the form of a regular obelisk for more than a thousand 
feet down, has been named " Sentinel Eock." Three quarters of a mUe 
southeast of the Sentinel, stands the Dome, four thousand one hundred 
and fifty feet high — its horizontal section nearly circular, and its slope 
regular all round. 

Directly across the valley from Sentinel Eock is the Tosemite Fall, 
where a stream of the same name, twenty feet wide and two deep at 
high water, precipitates itself over the cliff, falling at one bound a ver- 



278 THE NATUKAL WEALTH OF CALIFORN'LV. 

tical cTistance of one tliousand five hundred feet, after wliicli it makes, 
by a series of cascades, a further descent of six hundred and twenty- 
six feet in the course of the third of a mile, when with a final bound 
of four hundred feet, it leaps to the bottom of the valley — making in 
this short distance a total descent of two thousand five hundred and 
twenty-six feet — some calculations making it even a little more. Having, 
however, in this instance, as in all other cases pertaining to heights and 
distances in and around this valley, adopted the figures of the State 
Geological Survey, the measurements given may safely be accepted as 
being, if not absolutely correct, at least more nearly so than any others 
extant. 

Two miles above this fall the main valley of the Tosemite ends, 
running into three deep gorges ; the central, through which flows the 
Merced river, running nearly east and west, and the Tenaya fork bear- 
ing to the north, while the valley of the Illilouette, through which also 
flows a considerable stream, ascends in a southerly direction. 

Following tip the Tenaya caiion to a point a little above its mouth, 
we have on the right, in fTdl view, what has been for a long time par- 
tially in sight, the most grand and impressive object in or around the 
valley. This consists of a fearful cliff, four thousand seven hundred 
and thirty-seven feet high, named the Half Dome — from the fact that 
one face is rounded in form while the other is jDerfectly vertical, giving 
the impression that one half of what was once a regular dome-shaped 
mountain has been broken off and engulphed; which is no doubt really 
the case, though there are no fragments on the surface at the base, 
nor other ruins left to show what has become of this lost portion. 
Without any compeer in mountain topogi-aphy elsewhere, it stands iso- 
lated and vast, a striking monument to some strange dynamic move- 
ment, all other traces of which have been forever covered up. 

On the opposite side of Tenaya valley stands the North Dome, 
another rounded structure of granite, its summit elevated three thou- 
sand five hundred and sixty-eight feet above its base. Flanking one 
side of it is a vast buttress, called the Washington Column; and in the 
sides of the cliff adjacent is a series of vaulted chambers, formed by the 
sliding down of immense fragments of rock from above, named the 
Royal Arches. Fui-ther up the caiion, reposing under the awful shadow 
of the Half Dome, is a little lake called Tissayac, which, like all the 
waters here, is ever cold and as pellucid as crystal. 

Along the middle, or Merced caiion, are several remarkable catar- 
acts, as well as many lofty cliffs and peaks, some of the latter hardly 
inferior in the majesty of their proportions to the Half Dome itself — 



COHNTIES OF CALEPOBNIA. 279 

thougli less unique and impending. Tlie two most noteworthy falls on 
this stream, rendered exceedingly grand when the river is at high 
stages, are the Vernal, or Puiyae, the lowest down, and the Nevada — 
the former having a perpendicular height of four hundred and seventy- 
five feet, and the latter of six hundred and thirty-nine feet, the river 
making a total descent of more than two thousand feet in a distance of 
two miles. 

There are also many grand cataracts and cascades on the lUilouette, 
or South Fork, along which the scenery partakes largely of the same 
bold character with that already described, though this branch has 
been less explored than the main valley, or either of the others. 

Scattered over the principal valley, as well as the lower slopes of 
the mountains are groves of pine, mixed with which, in the valley, are 
several species of oak, with some willow and poplar — the latter of the 
kind usually called cottonwood — ^being what in the East is known as 
the "Balm of Gilead." These forests, abounding with grassy glades 
and lakes, and being filled in summer with a variety of wild flowers, 
the whole valley approximates nearer a scene of enchantment than 
anything else to be found in nature. 

The climate here in the winter is rigorous, the valley at this season 
being almost completely shut out from the sun, and the snow falling so 
deep on the trails leading into it as to render it diffictdt of access before 
the middle of May. In the summer the atmosphere is kept cool by the 
lakes and running water, and the spray from the falls — the sun, even at 
this season, never shining on many parts of the valley. 

Near Crane's Flat, thirty miles southeast of the town of Mariposa, 
occurs another grove of Mammoth Trees, similar to that in Cala- 
veras county. This group contains four hundred and twenty-seven 
trees, varying in size from twenty to thirty-four feet in diameter, and 
from two hundred and seventy-five to three hundred and twenty-five 
feet in height. This grove, which has an altitude of nearly six thousand 
feet above the level of the sea, is scattered over an area of about five 
hundred acres. The remains of a prostrate tree, now nearly consumed 
by fire, indicate that it must have attained a diameter of about forty, 
and a height of four hundred feet. Near this large grove are two 
others, the one containing eighty-six and the other thirty-five trees, 
the average size of which are about the same as of those in the prin- 
cipal grove. 



280 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOKNIA. 

MONO COOTTTY. 

This county derives its name from a large lake situated in its north- 
ern part — the word being of Indian origin. It lies wholly beyond the 
main ridge of the Sierra Nevada, the crest of that range forming its 
southwestern border. It is long and narrow, extending northwest and 
southeast one hundred and fifty miles, and having an average breadth 
of about forty miles. Its easterly portion is traversed longitudinally 
by the White, the Inyo, and several other chains of mountains ; its 
western section rising to the summit of the Sierra, and covering, in 
part, Mount Dana and Castle Peak— the former thirteen thousand two 
hundred and twenty-seven, and the latter thirteen thousand feet high. 
The east and the west fork of Walker river, having their soui'ce's in the 
great snowy range in the northwestern end of the county, after gather- 
ing many tributaries, flow north into the State of Nevada. Owen's 
river, heading a little south of Mono lake, and receiving the drainage 
of the Sierra on the west, and of the White mountains on the east, 
runs south and empties into Owen's lake, in Inyo county. There are 
no other streams of any magnitude in the county, though niimerous 
creeks descend from the Sierra and after running a short distance out 
upon the sage plain at its base disappear in the barren and arid soil. 
At the point where these creeks debouch upon the plains fertile deltas 
have been formed— their waters spreading out over a considerable 
space of ground ; this system of natural irrigation having been pro- 
moted by the Indians, who, finding here their favorite j)laces of abode, 
have employed it extensively in watering the wild clover ; which, thus 
aided, grows abundantly, and upon which they love to feed when it is 
young and tender. About the headwaters, and along the two forks of 
Walker river, as well as in the valley of Owen's river, there are large 
patches of alluvial soil upon which, through the assistance of irriga. 
tion, good crops of grain and the more hardy vegetables can be raised; 
though the country is too elevated for the successful culture of most 
kinds of fruits — its general altitude being about six thousand feet. As 
a consequence, while much stock is kept here in the summer — enough 
butter and cheese being made for the consumption of the inhabitants — 
very little is done in the line of general farming ; the amount of land 
inclosed in 1867 having been only about six thousand acres, of which 
less than one third was under cultivation. Barley is the princijjal grain 
planted, though a few thousand bushels of wheat and oats are raised 
every year. 

But trifling expenditures have been made on accoimt of wagon road 



coujsties op califoenia. 281 

construction witliin the limits of tlie county — tlie nature of tlie surface, 
consisting largely of open valleys in the more populous sections, ren- 
dering costly improvements of this kind by no means imperative. 
Wagon communication with California is had mostly by way of Carson 
valley; though lightly loaded vehicles cross the mountains during the 
summer by the Sonora road, which terminates at Bridgeport. At this 
season horsemen and pack trains also cross on the Mono trail, coming 
in further south. 

There are no towns of any magnitude in this county— Bridgeport, 
the county seat, and the largest, having but about two hundred inhabi- 
tants. Beyond this, there is iiothing but mining camps, containing, at 
most, not over thirty or forty persons each. Monoville, once having 
more than a thousand inhabitants, is now not only deserted, but has 
alnaost entirely disappeared — such buildings as have not been removed 
elsewhere, being nearly all crushed into shapeless ruins by the weight 
of the snow, which here falls to a great depth in the Avinter. 

On the Sierra there is much spruce and pine timber, from which 
enough lumber of a fair quality is made to meet local requirements. 
There are eight steam saw mills in the county, with a joint capacity to 
cut forty thousand feet of lumber daily — the whole erected at an aggre- 
gate cost of $70,000. The piiion grows, after its usual scattered and 
straggling manner, on many of the hills and mountain ranges in the 
northern and eastern parts of the county ; the only trees found on the 
plains, or in the extensive valley of Owen's river, consisting of a few 
willows, growing along the banks of that stream. 

The Mono canal, twenty miles long, built to carry water from Vir- 
ginia creek to Monoville, is the only work of the kind in the county — - 
though there are many small ditches in the farming districts dug for 
irrigating purposes. This canal, constructed nearly ten years ago, at a 
cost of $75, 000, was designed to supply water for working the diggings 
at Monoville, which for a few years paid a poptdation of sis or eight 
hundred very fair wages. These placers, originally of but limited 
extent, becoming exhausted, the locality has since been nearly aban- 
doned — ^very little work having been done there for the past seven 



At no other point in the county have any surface diggings worth 
mentioning been found, though very considerable operations in vein 
mining have been carried on at various places within its limits. In the 
Bodie district, a few miles north of Mono lake, many heavy quartz 
veins, carrying both gold and silver, were located in 1860, upon sev- 
eral of which much work has since been performed. Two large quartz 



282 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA. 

mills have, within the past two years, been erected in the district; but 
owing to difficulties experienced in treating the ores, or other causes, 
they have been idle much of the time since. 

Several districts have been laid out elsewhere in the county, the 
more important of which, either because of the work done in them, or 
the superior character of their mines, consist of the Montgomery, Hot 
Spring, Blind Spring, and Castle Peak. In the three first named, sev- 
eral small mills and smelting works have been put up — the ores, 
though generally very rich being obdurate, and requiring treatment by 
fusion. Lack of capital, and the many other drawbacks against which 
these mines have had to contend — difficult of access, and often suffering 
from inadequate supplies of wood and water — have prevented any 
extensive developments from being made upon them. With these 
wants supplied, and these obstacles even partially removed, they could, 
no doubt, be worked with profit — a few claims, operated with very 
incomplete appliances, having been made to yield handsomely, on a 
small scale. That a portion, at least, of the ores here obtained are of 
high grade, is established by the fact that many tons sent to San Fran- 
cisco for a market have sold at rates that left a good profit margin, after 
paying the cost of extraction and the great expense of freight. Until 
greater facilities for transportation are afforded, however, the bulk of 
these ores must be reduced on the gi-ound — a disposition that can be 
economically made of them wherever wood and water are plentiful, and 
when suitable works shall be erected for treating them. 

In the Castle Peak district, situated on an outlying bench of the 
Sierra, a few miles south of Bridgeport, an immense silver-bearing 
lode, called the Dunderberg, was discovered in 1866. Many claims 
were afterwards located on this mother lode, which crops out boldly for 
a distance of several miles. Upon the original location a large amount 
of exploratory labor has been performed, and there is a strong proba- 
bility that it will ultimately develope into a valuable mine. 

Mono contains five quartz mills and reduction works, the whole 
carrying thirty-eight stamps, and erected at a cost of about $230,000. 
There are within its limits several groups of hot springs, none of them, 
however, possessed of such striking features as to entitle them to espe- 
cial notice. 

Save, perhaps, some of the higher mountain peaks in its western part, 
already alluded to, this county possesses no topographical or other natu- 
ral feature sufficiently notable to call for extended comment, except 
Mono lake — a body of water fourteen miles long, from east to west, and 
nine miles wide, occupyi"^ a basin on the divide that separates the waters 



COUNTIES OF CAIilTOENIA. 283 

of Walter river from those flowing into Owen's lake. The size of this 
lake was formerly much greater than at present, as is indicated by the 
numerous lofty terraces, distinctly seen nearly all round it— they being 
most strongly marked on the west shore, where the highest has an ele- 
vation of six hundred and eighty feet above its present surface. 

This lake contains a number of islands, one of which is two and a 
half miles long, and another half a mile in length. They are all com- 
posed of volcanic matter, the basin of the lake itself being supposed, 
from its great depth and peculiar formation, to occupy the crater of 
an ancient volcano. There are now scattered about in the vicinity 
numerous cones and partial craters pointing to a period when there 
were many volcanoes in action here. In fact, upon the larger of these 
islands, there are now hundreds of fumorolas from which gas, steam, 
and smoke are constantly escaping, showing that these volcanic agen- 
cies have not yet become wholly extinguished. 

The water of the lake, intensely bitter and saline, is of high specific 
gravity, being supersaturated with various mineral substances, of 
which salt, lime, borax and the carbonate of soda form the principal. 
So large a percentage of the latter' does it hold in solution that it 
washes better than the strongest soap-suds; in fact, such is its corro- 
sive power, that it is impossible to remain in it for more than a few 
moments, when bathing, without the skin becoming painfully affected. 
No living thing, except the larva of a small fly, inhabits this lake; even 
the wild fowl that frequent it in summer keeping near the inlets where 
the acrid water, diluted by the mountain streams discharging into it at 
these places, is robbed of its more pungent properties. 

So abundant, however, is the product of this insect, which taking 
the shape of a small, white worm, drifts in millions upon the shore, 
that the Indians, who collect and dry it, find in it one of their most 
acceptable staples of subsistance. So sluggish are the waters, which 
have an oily appearance, that none but the strongest winds suffice to 
more than raise a ripple on their surface. Void of life, and surrounded 
Avith desolation, Mono has aptly been termed the "Dead sea" of the 
Great Basin; being, though of less extent, much deeper, and more of a 
waste in its dreary surroundings than the Great Salt Lake of Utah; if 
not, also more bitter and baneful than the sullen waters that roll over 
the lost cities of the Plains. 



284 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

INTO COUNTY. 

This county, organized in 1866 from portions of Tulare and San 
Bernardino counties, is named after a mining district and a mountain 
range lying within its borders, the term being of Indian origin. Inyo 
is bounded on the north by Mono, on the northeast by the Stijte of 
Nevada, on the southeast by San Bernardino, and on the west by Tulare 
county, its form approximating that of a triangle. Like Mono, it lies 
wholly east of the main ridge of the Sierra, the crest of that range, 
which here reaches its greatest altitude, forming its western border. 
The Inyo mountains, running north and south, traverse the county cen- 
trally; the Panamint, a parallel and still higher range, lying to the east 
of it ; while a portion of the Armagosa group occupies the extreme 
eastern angle of .the county. These mountains contain, standing in 
patches or scattered over them, a sparse growth of pinon and juniper 
trees, though they are but poorly supplied with either grass or water, 
and have little or no land fit for tillage except narrow strips of allu^'ium 
bottoms along a few of the streams at the point where they debouch 
upon the plains. Neither are there any tracts of farming or meadow 
lands in the valleys lying between these ranges, with the exception of 
that of Owen's river, along which there is a strip of rich soil varying in 
width from a few rods to a mile or more; and which, with irrigation, 
produces grains and vegetables of all kinds in the greatest profusion. 
In several of the valleys there are extensive alkali flats, and sometimes 
beds of salt — saline and hot springs being also occasionally met with. 
The running water is generally fresh and pure, that of the lakes and 
ponds, as well as many of the springs, being so impregnated with salt 
and chloride of soda as to be not only unpalatable, but wholly unfit for 
drinking or culinary pui'poses. The waters of Owen's lake, twenty-two 
miles long and eight wide, as well as those of the Little lake, a pond 
lying twenty miles further south, are all of this description. 

The amount of land enclosed in 1867 being mostly in Owen's river 
valley, was estimated at two thousand acres, about one half of which 
was tmder cultivation, the rest being mown for hay. The principal 
grain raised was barley, though wheat and oats thrive equally well, 
and Indian corn is also successfully cultivated. A gi-ist mill having 
recently been erected in Owen's valley, more wheat will, no doubt, be 
planted hereafter, as facilities will be at hand for converting it into 
flour. 

There are three saw mills in the county, all of limited cost and 
capacity, the demand for lumber heretofore having not been large. No 



COTTNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 285 

■vragon roads have yet been built except a few of brief length leading 
from Owen's valley into the mines. Throughout the entire length of 
this valley, reaching for more than one hundred and fifty miles, good 
natural roads exist. 

Inyo contains but few towns, or even populous mining camps ; 
Independence, the county seat and largest village in it, counting but 
about one hundred inhabitants, exclusive of a small garrison of soldiers 
stationed at this place. The entire population does not at present 
exceed one thousand, though there is a strong probability that the 
number of inhabitants will soon be materially augmented through the 
very attractive character of the mines within its borders. 

Eunning in from the south, between the Ai-magosa and Panamint 
motmtains, before mentioned, is the desolate region of "Death valley," 
which having a length of forty miles, with a width of eight or ten, runs 
north twenty degrees west from the point where the Armagosa river 
sinks at its southern extremity. According to observations made by a 
party of the United States Boundary Expedition, who entered it in 1861, 
the Avhole of this plain is sunk four hundred feet below sea level, giv- 
ing it a gi-eater depression than the Caspian sea, and nearly as great as 
that of the Dead sea, the sink of the Jordan, in Palestine. It is prob- 
ably the bed of a former lake, the waters of which were heavily 
charged with salt and soda, a large portion of this basin being covered 
with an incrustation of these minerals several inches thick. The 
remainder of this surface is composed of an ash-like earth, mixed with 
a tenacious clay, sand and alkali, and is so soft that a man cannot 
travel over it in the winter without difficulty, it being impossible for 
animals at any season to cross it. In spots, where there is less moist- 
ure, the surface is so porous that a horse sinks into it half way to the 
knees, rendering travel slow and laborious. Water can be obtained 
almost anywhere by digging down a few feet, but it is so saline and 
bitter that it can be used by neither man nor beast. "With the excep- 
tion of a few clumps of worthless shrubs near its borders, this plain is 
destitute of even the slightest traces of vegetation; nor are any signs of 
animal life to be seen upon it except a small black gnat, which, swarm- 
ing in myriads during the summer, greatly annoy the traveler, entering 
his eyes, ears and nose, their attacks being persistent and their sting 
peculiarly irritating. 

The valley is encircled by a barren sage plain, from three to six 
miles wide, which, beginning at the base of the mountains that sur- 
round it on every side but the south, slopes gently down to its margin. 
Coursing across this sterile belt, on which nothing grows but the wild 



286 THE NATUn.U; WE.\XTH OF CALEFORNLV. 

sage, intermixed with a few tiifts of bunch-grass, are numerous ravines, 
the most of tliem dry, except, perhajDS, at long intervals; the streams 
that flow through their upper portions, at the season of the melting 
snows, sinking into the dry and porous earth soon after they reach the 
foot of the mountains. Along these water-courses grow a few willow 
and mesquite trees — the latter, though low and bushy, having a firm 
fiber, makes excellent fuel. 

At a point about thirty miles north of Death valley, the Ai-magosa 
river, a stream of small volume but great length, takes its rise, and 
flowing southeast for more than a hundred miles, makes a detour 
when far out on the Mohave desert, and bending round to the north- 
west, runs in that direction about forty miles, when, having reached 
the southern end of this arid plain, it finally disappears. A consider- 
able stream flows also into the north end of the valley, but, like the 
Armagosa, as well as all the springs and such streams as do not descend 
immediately from the mountains, the water is so impregnated with salt 
as to be unfit for drinking. 

The heat of this basin, uncomfortable often in winter, is constant 
and terrible throughout the entire summer, the thermometer ranging 
from a himdred and ten to a hundred and forty degi'ees during the day. 
From the absence of animal life, and the sluggish state of the atmos- 
phere, an ominous stillness reigns perpetually over it, giving, in con- 
jimction with the terrific heat and aridity, fearful significance to the 
name popularly applied to it. In the summer of 1849 a party of immi- 
grants, making their way overland to California, strayed into this val- 
ley, and having wandered through its entire length, sought to escape 
by scaling the mountain range that shuts it in on the north. Being 
unable, however, to find any fresh water, several of the party, together 
with most of their animals, perished from heat and thirst, they having 
become nearly exhausted before reaching the point where they at 
length gave out. The evidences of their sufl'erings and final disaster 
are still to be seen at several points along their route. Scattered 
about one of their camping grounds are numerous remains of wagons, 
kettles, and other cooking utensils, indicating a pui-pose of relicA-ing 
themselves from all useless equipage. Some miles further on, where 
they liad become entangled among the sand hills and soft bottoms 
along Salt creek, is what seems to have been the culminating scene 
of their sufferings. Here the bones of animals and the fragments of 
wagons, camp furniture, etc., are thickly strewn around ; and here, no 
doubt, covered by the drifting sands, are the solitary and iinmarked 
graves of those who died. 



COUNTIES OP CALIFOENIA. 287 

Not far from this spot, and somewhere on the eastern slope of the 
Panamint mountains, is the locality of the rich silver deposit supposed 
to have been found by the survivors of this imfortunate party, while 
seeking for a practicable pass through that range, and which has since 
come to be known as the " Gun Sight" mine, from the fact that one of 
the discoverers, according to tradition, fitted a new sight for his rifle 
from the metalic silver obtained from the lode. Unfortunately for the 
credit of this story, as well as for numerous adventurers who have 
since gone in search of this famous deposit, it appears to have had 
nothing more substantial to justify it than the existence at that point 
of a micaceous talc, which, persons unacquainted with the appearance 
of silver ores, might, on hasty inspection, mistake for that metal. 

Near the main deflection of the Armagosa, on the Mohave desert, 
a rich vein of auriferous quartz does exist ; but there being no wood or 
fresh water, and scarcely any vegetation within a distance of fifty miles, 
and the whole country adjacent being covered with sand, glistening 
masses of basalt, and black volcanic buttes, it has been found impos- 
sible to work this mine with profit, though several attempts have been 
made to do so. 

There is, however, in the western part of this county, situated in 
both the Sierra Nevada and the Inyo mountains, a great extent of val- 
uable mines ; certain sections of the Panamint chain also giving satis- 
factory evidence of mineral wealth. In the Kearsarge district, located 
high up against the eastern slope of the Sierra, a very powerful silver 
bearing lode was discovered in 1866, for which subsequent develop- 
ments indicate both permanence and richness ; considerable quantities 
of ore taken from the Kearsarge company's claim having yielded, by 
mill process, from three hundred to six hundred dollars per ton. The 
remoteness of the locality, however, and the stubborn nature of the 
ores, have thus far restricted milling operations to narrow limits. But 
the mine itself having in the meantime been fully proven, ultimate suc- 
cess only awaits more ample and efficient means of reduction. Three 
mills, one of twenty, and two of five stamps each, have been erected 
in this district ; the larger driven by steam, and the two smaller by 
water, of which there is sufficient in the vicinity of the mines for pro- 
pelling a large amount of machinery. There is also plenty of timber 
in the district to insure cheap supplies of fuel and lumber for an indef- 
inite period. These mines being favorably situated for deep drainage 
and ore extraction, can be worked at comparatively small cost for many 
years to come. 

In the Cerro Gordo, often called the Lone Pine district, lying 



288 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CjU^IEORNLV. 

along the western base of tlie Inyo mountains, there are a vast num- 
ber of gold and silver bearing lodes, not generally of large size, and 
sometimes much broken up on the surface, but nearly all of great rich- 
ness. The metals are chiefly a combination of silver, lead, copperi 
and antimony, a union rendering reduction by smelting necessary. 
The district has a length of about fifty miles with an average width of 
six miles, there being within its limits about five hundred miners, the 
most of them Mexicans. On the foot-hills and mountains adjacent to 
the mines are scattered groves of pinon and jimiper, biit many parts 
of the district are badly off for water, supplies being scanty in the dry 
season and obtainable only by digging. A large number of rude and 
cheaply constructed furnaces have been built for smelting the ores, 
which by this treatment yield, with a little selection, from one hun- 
dred to three hundred dollars to the ton. There are also a number of 
arastras in the district, some of the ores containing free gold and yield- 
ing liberally under this mode of working. With the aid of even a 
moderate amount of capital, very little of which has ever yet been 
invested in these mines, their product of bullion, it is believed by 
those most conversant with their character, could be multiplied many 
fold, rendering their more extended working largely and almost cer- 
tainly remunerative. 

Between the years 1861 and 1865, a number of mining districts 
were organized in different parts of this county, in some of which a 
good deal of prospecting work was done and several mills were put 
up. Owing, however, to the rebellious disposition of the ores, the 
occurence of Indian hostilities and other obstacles, incident to the 
then condition of this region or inherent in the mines themselves, no 
satisfactory results waited upon any of these enterprises. Under the 
more favorable circumstances now existing, some of these efforts are 
about to be resumed — a marked degree of success being confidently 
anticipated. 

There are now fourteen quartz mills in this county, several of them 
costly and of considerable capacity, and all driven by steam except 
four. They carry a total number of one hundred and thirty stamps, 
and cost in the aggregate about $350,000. There is but a single water 
ditch in the county of any magnitude, the San Carlos canal taking 
water from Owen's river, and conducting it along its banks for milling 
and irrigating purposes. It extends a distance of fifteen miles, and 
cost about thirty thousand dollars. 



COUNTIES OF CAIIPOBNIA. 289 

VALLEY COUNTIES. 
TEHAMA COXINTY. 

Teliama county, erected in 1856, lias the following boundaries, viz. : 
Sliasta on the north, Plumas and Butte on the east, Butte and Colusa 
on the south, and Mendocino and Trinity on the west. Its length, 
east and west, is about seventy-eight miles, and its average breadth 
thirty-eight miles, giving it a superficial area of nearly three thousand 
square miles. The county is bordered on the west by the Coast Bange 
of mountains — its eastern portion being covered by numerous outlying 
spurs of the Sierra Nevada. The latter are well timbered with forests 
of spruce and pine, suitable for making lumber. The Coast Bange 
contains only an inferior species of oak and pine, while there is but 
little timber of any kind elsewhere in the county — the cottonwood and 
sycamore formerly growing along the Sacramento and other streams, 
being now nearly all cut away. 

Tehama is almost exclusively a farming and stock raising county — 
there being a large body of rich alluvial soil in the valley of the Sacra- 
mento river, running centrally across it, and along the several large creeks 
that flow from the mormtains on either hand. Here is a broad scope 
of the best grain growing land in the State, while the hills are every- 
where covered with wild oats and bunch grass, affording rich and 
ample pasturage for the herds of sheep, horses and cattle that con- 
stantly feed upon them. The numerous streams afford abundant 
means for irrigation — an aid not often needed for maturing the cereal 
crops, though employed to some extent in the gardens, orchards and 
vineyards. 

In 1865, there were, according to the Assessor's report, 70,715 acres, 
of land enclosed in this county, of which about 16,000 were under cul- 
tivation ; 7,832 acres, sown to wheat, yielded 147,478 bushels; 8,068. 
acres, sown to barley, yielded 153,965 bushels; and 25 acres, planted 
to oats, produced 1,080 bushels. In the year 1866, 13,424 acres of 
wheat gave a product of 270,035 bushels — a less quantity of this grain 
having been raised the following season, though a greater area of land 
was sovnx ; the crops having suffered, as was the case in many other 
localities in the State, from an excess of rain at one period, and an 
insufficiency at another. Several thousand bushels of Indian corn are 
raised here every season ; a considerable amount of broom corn being 
also grown. The climate of this region is well suited to viniciilture — 
there being now more than a half million grape vines in the coimty, 
19 



290 THE NATUEAL WEALTU OF CALIFOEXIA. 

and several thousand gallons of -wine having been made annually for a 
number of years past. 

Latterly, mucli attention has been given to sheep raising in Teha- 
ma, and as the soil and climate are ■well suited to this business, Avool 
will, most likely, in the course of a few years, form one of its most 
important staples. 

Tehama contains four grist mills, capable of grinding four hundred 
barrels of flour daily. They caiTy twelve run of stone, and cost, in the 
aggregate, about $90,000. 

As there is little or no placer mining carried on in this county, no 
■water ditches, other than those required for irrigation, have been con- 
structed, -while an almost exclusive devotion to agricultural pursuits has 
prevented the inhabitants engaging in the business of manufacturing — 
about the only thing done in this line being the making of flour and 
lumber. There are t^wo saw mills in the county, both driven by -water, 
and of but moderate capacity. The assessable value of the property 
in Tehama county -was placed at $950,589 in 1865, and at $1,557,925 in 
1867 — -sho-wing a gratifying advance during this period. 

Owing to the generally favorable character of the country, but few 
costly wagon roads have been required in this county, and, conse- 
quently, but little money has been expended on these improvements ; 
the citizens, however, have contributed liberally towards building roads 
leading over the Sierra — the county having issued its bonds in the sum 
of $40, 000 to aid the construction of the Eed Bluff and Honey Lake 
turnpike, opening the shortest wagon route from the navigable waters 
of the Sacramento to northwestern Nevada and southern Idaho. 

The population of Tehama numbers about seveji thousand, of whom 
a large proportion are women and children. Eed Bluff, the county 
seat, occupies a handsome site on the right bank of the Sacramento 
river, and contains two thousand five hundi-ed inhabitants. It is a 
prosperous and growing to-wn, and, being at the head of steamboat 
navigation on that river, enjoys a thrifty trade, not only with the differ- 
ent parts of the county, but also with points east of the Sierra — the 
amount of freight shipped from this place for the Humboldt and Owy- 
hee mines being large, and increasing every year. 

Tehama, twelve miles south of the county seat, on the same side of 
the river, has a population of about five hundred. Being near the point 
of confluence of several large creeks with the Sacramento, along each of 
which there is much fine land, it is the center of and supply point for 
an extensive farming district, extending in every direction around it. 
Cottonwood, Moon's ranch, and Grove City are rural hamlets, con- 



COUNTIES OF CAirPOENIA. 291 

taining from fifty to one hundred inhabitants each — thertJ having been 
at one time several small mining camps in the county, the most of which 
are now abandoned. 

In 1864, at which time there was much attention being paid to the 
discovery of copper, a great many lodes carrying the ores of this metal, 
often mixed with gold and silver, were located and partially prospected 
in the eastern part of the county. A town named Copper City sprang 
up at these mines, and a population of several hundred were for a time 
gathered there. A four-stamp mill was subsequently put up, the only 
one ever erected in the county, and ran for a period with fair success ; 
the quartz, though somewhat difficult of reduction, having been found 
to yield from twenty to thirty dollars to the ton. Of late, but little has 
been done in the district — the population having mostly left — though it 
is believed the lodes are really valuable, and that they will yet be 
worked with profit — the facilities for extracting and reducing their con- 
tents being good. 

In the northeastern part of the coxmty are numerous volcanic cones, 
some of them regularly shaped and very steep; and rising several hun- 
dred feet above the country adjacent, they often become striking objects 
in the surrounding landscape. 

All the streams heading in the Sierra run in deep canons which 
open upon the Sacramento valley in gate-like chasms, the lava forma- 
tion through which they flow terminating here with an abrupt edge. 
Below this is a barren, treeless belt, covered with volcanic fragments, 
which, gradually sloping to the west, merges in the fertile bottom lands 
along the river. The latter, in places, more especially along the water 
courses, still contain much timber, a great deal of that formerly found 
on these plains having been cut for fuel and fencing. 

The Tuscan, formerly known as the Lick springs, lying to the north- 
east of Red Bluff, having quite a reputation for their medicinal virtues 
in certain cases, are much resorted to by invalids from the surrormding 
country — a bathing establishment and boarding house having been 
erected for their accommodation. The water has a temperature of about 
seventy-six degrees, and contains salt, soda, lime and borax, in various 
proportions. 

BUTTE COUNTY. 

Butte county, so named from the Sutter Buttes, a group of prom- 
inent peaks lying a few miles south of its border, or perhaps from 
a low serrated mountain range within its limits, is bounded on the 
northwest by Tehama, on the northeast by Plumas, on the southeast 



292 THE NATURiVL ■WE.VLTH OF CALIFOKXLV. 

by Yuba, on the south by Sutter, and on the west by Colusa county; 
its extreme length north and south being a little over sixty, and its 
average breadth aboiit thirty-five miles. It is the only county in the 
State possessing an almost equal importance in an agricultural and 
mineral point of view. Skirted by the Sacramento river on the west, 
it embraces a large portion of the rich bottom lands along that stream; 
while, running through it from north to south, is the extensive and 
fertile valley of Feather river, with those of its several branches, giv- 
ing it a large area of the finest farming lands in the State. Along the 
main Feather river, as well as on its South, its "West and Middle Forks, 
and throughout the country lying between them, there is a broad 
scope of mineral land, forming the theatre of very active and remunera- 
tive mining operations. 

The coimty is well watered — the western part by Eock, Chico, 
Butte, Mesilla and other smaller creeks, and the eastern by Feather 
river, its three main forks and their numerous tributaries; along all of 
which there is more or less rich interval land. The greater part of the 
county is level; only the eastern and northern sections rising into the 
foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, while the northwestern is crossed by a 
number of low ridges, separating the several creeks that run through 
that region. The county along its northern and eastern border is 
well timbered ; the interior and western part thereof being without 
forest suitable for lumber — much of it without a siifficiency of wood 
even for fuel. There are ten saw mills in Butte, each of which cuts 
barely enough lumber to meet the requirements of its o-^vn neighbor- 
hood, none being exported. 

The citizens of this county, besides buildiug many wagon roads for 
local conveniences, have aided in constructing others running into the 
more important mining districts, and one leading from Chico, on the 
Sacramento river, across the Sierra — a route by which much freight, 
destined for northern Nevada and the 0^^■yhee mines, has gone forward 
during the past few years. Through the aid of a railroad extending 
from Oroville, near the center of the principal agricultural districts, to 
Mary.sville, the head of navigation on Feather river, and by means of 
the Sacramento river, also navigable, the farmers of Butte enjoj' good 
facilities for .shipping their produce to San Francisco, the controlling 
market. 

The population of this coiiuty is estimated at about twelve thousand. 
The real and personal property therein, exclusive of mines, Avas assessed 
in 186G at 85,128,358, giving an average of $427 to each inhabitant; 
and which, if the value of the mines were included, woiild make this. 



COUNTIES OF CALITOENIA. 2'Jo 

nest to San Francisco and Nevada, the richest community in tlie State. 
In regard to the value of its real and personal property Butte ranks 
seventh in the list of California counties. 

The quantity of land enclosed in 1865 amounted, according to 
assessor's estimates, to 293,222 acres, of which 74,775 were under culti- 
vation. Of this, 19,975 acres produced 511,170 bushels of wheat, and 
53, 817 acres produced 698, 227 bushels of barley. In the year 1866, 
21,919 acres planted to wheat gave a yield of 231,041 bushels. The 
total product of this cereal in 1867, when a much greater breadth of 
land was planted than ever before, was estimated on good authority to 
have reached 800,000 bushels, very little other grain having been raised 
that year. 

In 1867, General John Bidwell, the largest farmer in the county, 
had 2.000 acres sown to wheat, which gave a yield of 33,751 bushels — 
a much lower rate of increase than is usual in this county, the season 
having in some respects been unpropitious. The ordinary yield here 
averages about thirty bushels of wheat and forty-five of barley to the 
acre. General Bidwell has about 3,000 bearing fruit trees on his farm, 
from which he sent during the year last mentioned one hundred tons of 
green and fifteen tons of dried fruit to market. The value of the farm- 
ing products shipped from Butte for a number of years past has 
amounted to $2,000,000 annually, it having some years exceeded these 
figures. 

There are four grist mills in this county, the whole carrying ten run 
of stone, and capable of making about six hundred barrels of flour 
daily. They are kept almost constantly employed in grinding the home 
crop, large quantities of flour being sent into the neighboring mining- 
districts and to points east of the Sierra. The Chico mill alone made 
during the year 1867 over five thousand barrels of flour, one or two of 
the others having ground nearly as much. 

While grain raising has chiefly engrossed the attention of the agi-i- 
culturalists of Butte, fruit growing and viniculture have not been 
wholly neglected; much wine being made and large quantities of fruit 
dried every season. For several years past enough raisins, of excellent 
quality, have also been made to supply the domestic trade. 

The number of horses and mules kept for farm work and draft, and 
also of ^9.ttle, swine and sheep in this county, is large; wool being one 
of its staple exports. Difficulties in regard to land titles growing out 
of Mexican grants did much to retard the progress of farming here for 
many years, these troubles being now happily settled. 

Among the products of this county, being novel in California, are 



294 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENU. 

peanuts, of wliicli three thousand two hundred bushels were grown in 
the year 1867. They are cultivated by the Chinese, and are remark- 
able for their great size and excellent flavor. 

In the year 1867 twenty thousand gallons of turpentine and two 
thousand five hundred cases of rosin were manufactured in Butte, 
from the sap or raw turpentine gathered by tapping the extensive pine 
forests that cover the eastern part of the county. The production of 
these ai-ticles could easily be increased many fold were they in larger 
consumption on this coast. 

The principal towns in Butte are Oroville, the county seat, containing 
about fifteen hundred inhabitants ; Chico, on the Cliico Creek, with a 
population of fourteen hundred, and the center of a flourishing farming 
community, and which besides enjoying a large local trade, has a con- 
siderable commerce with the mining districts of Humboldt and Idaho; 
and Cherokee, an active mining town, ten miles north of the county 
seat, with about six hundred inhabitants in and around it. Bidwell's 
Bar, Brush Creek, Butte Valley, Forbestown, Inskip, Thompson's Flat, 
Hamilton, Wyandotte and Dayton are all mining camps, or agricultural 
hamlets, containing from one to four hundred inhabitants each. 

As stated, a large proportion of this county consists of what may be 
termed mineral lands; every description of gold mines and mining 
being fotmd and carried on within its limits, a broad expanse of placers 
having been wrought here at an early day. Here are innumerable lodes 
of gold bearing quartz; long stretches of mesas, or table mountains, cov- 
ering the channels of ancient rivers ; deep banks of auriferous detritus 
overlying the slates, and a great many shallow diggings, some of which, 
though very prolific, have been but little worked, the great drawback 
to placer mining in many parts of this county having been a lack of 
water; but few ditches of any magnitude having yet been built for 
introducing this element into the mines. These works are fifteen in 
number, varying in length from two to fourteen miles. Their entire 
length is sixty-eight miles; total cost, $75,000. "With more copious sup- 
plies of water very extensive and profitable placer mining might here 
be prosecuted for many years. In many rich localities, however, an 
obstacle to successful operations exists in the extreme level character 
of the surface, there being too little fall to give the water sufficient 
motion for effectual washing, or to carry away the tailings. Owing to 
this difficulty a wide area of shallow placers near Brownsville can only 
be worked in a small way in the wet season, when good wages can be 
made operating with the rocker. The gold obtained in this vicinity is 
remarkable for its purity, ranging from 984 to 987 in fineness, and 



COXJNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 295 

being, consequently, wortli from $20.34 to $20.40 per ounce. This is 
said to be in point of purity the finest gold found in the State, and, 
with the exception of the dust coming from Africa, and from one or two 
small localities in Australia, the finest procured in the world. 

Considerable river bed mining is carried on every summer in the 
channels of the main Feather river, and its several forks, where these 
operations have been attended with better average results than at any 
other point in the State. About Oroville, where, for a long time, river- 
bar and bank mining was conducted on a large scale ; at Cherokee 
Flat, Little Butte creek, Forbestown, and several minor localities, every 
branch of placer operations is engaged in, and generally with fair suc- 
cess, though not on a scale of such magnitude as in most of the min- 
ing counties lying further south and east. 

Quartz mining during its earlier stages was attended with but in- 
different results in this county. For several years past, however, this 
interest has been not only expanding, but making steady gains, until 
it has at length reached a stage rendering ultimate success no longer 
problematic. Cherokee, "Wyandotte, Dogtown, Brown's Valley, Oregon 
City, Virginia, Yankee Hill, and Forbestown, are the points where 
quartz is being most extensively worked, and where the most of the 
mills are located. There are nine of these establishments in the 
county, carrying a total of one hundred and twenty-five stamps ; a 
forty stamp mill having recently been erected and set in operation at 
Forbestown. 

Several years ago a stratum of coal, of the cannel variety, was dis- 
covered near Feather river. The tests made of it at the time were 
said to have been satisfactory, but the deposit has not since been suf- 
ficiently developed to determine either its probable extent or value as 
a fuel. A bed of marble has also been found on the same stream. 
The material, of which there is an abundance, being of close texture 
and variegated colors, will no doubt prove of future value. 

COLUSA COUNTY. 

The name of this coimty is of Indian origin. It is one of the few 
regularly shaped counties in California, being nearly square, and has 
the following boundaries, viz: Tehama on the north, Butte and Sutter 
on the east, Yolo on the south, and Lake and Mendocino on the west. 
It has a length of fifty-seven miles north and south by a breadth of forty- 
five miles — the western part constituting about one third of the county, 
being covered by the Coast Eange, is hilly or mountainous. The bal- 
ance, consisting of rich alluvial, or less fertile prairie land, is nearly all 



296 THE NATURiUL WTEiVLTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

level and well adapted to tlie growing of fruits and gi'ain, this being 
almost exclusiTcly an agricultural and stock raising county. The hills 
and mountains are covered with wild oats and a variety of grasses, 
affording rich and abundant pasturage. While the quantity of grain 
raised is considerable, a great deal of stock is also kept, much of it 
being bred for market, there now being over twenty-five thousand head 
of cattle in this county. Owing to the dryness and heat of the climate, 
dairying is not extensively carried on. Sheep and swine raising, how- 
ever, form large and profitable branches of business. The wool clip of 
Colusa, for 1867, exceeded three hundred and fifty thousand pounds, 
the number of sheep being estimated at one hundred and twenty-five 
thousand. 

Stretching for many miles along the Sycamore slough, and other 
streams running into the .Sacramento river, are strips of tule land, 
amoiinting in the aggregate to about thirty thousand acres, the most of 
which could easily be reclaimed and converted into superior pasture, 
grain and meadow lands. The area of land enclosed in 1866 was esti- 
mated at about one hundred and thirty thousand acres, of which more 
than one third was under cultivation. The amount of wheat raised that 
year reached about two hundred and fifty thousand bushels, the crop of 
the succeeding year having been much larger. Considerable quantities 
of barley, oats and corn are also planted every season. A great quantity 
of additional land was taken up and sown to grain, mostly wheat, in 
1867-8, which, should the season prove favorable, must largely increase 
the crop of the latter year. The number of acres of land under culti- 
vation, in 1867, reached fifty-one thousand five hundred; of which, 
twenty-four thousand two hundred were sown to wheat, producing 
about four hundred and fifty thousand bushels, and twenty thousand 
one hundred and forty acres were sown to barley, producing four hun- 
dred thousand bushels. 

The real and personal proj)erty of Colusa was assessed in 1866 at 
$2,080,830, a large proportion of it being on account of stock, all kinds 
of which thrive here with little care, the climate being mild and feed 
abundant. On the night of the 11th of January, 1868, snow fell at the 
town of Colusa to the depth of six inclies, the heaviest fall that had 
occurred, with one exception, -ndthin the memory of the oldest settlers 
in the county. Only at long intervals does any snow ever fall in the 
valleys, its duration here being limited to a few hours. On the higher 
jDeaks of the Coast Range, which borders the county on the west, a little 
snow falls every winter; but it never reaches any great depth, nor does 
it lie for more than a few weeks at a time. Swine, of which there are 



COTINTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 297 

large numbers raised in tlie county, grow and fatten on the tule roots, 
whicli, furnisliing a cheap and nutritious food, enables the farmer to 
raise these animals with little expense and trouble. Often a thousand 
head of hogs, or more, are shipped from this county in a single week. 

There are but few towns, and none of any magnitude, in this county 
— Colusa, the county seat, containing four or five hundred inhabitants, 
being the largest place in it. Princeton, eighteen miles, and Jacinto, 
forty miles north of Colusa, are small agricultural towns, and being, 
like the county seat, located on the Sacramento river, are points whence 
large quantities of produce are shipped every year. This county con- 
tains about four thousand five hundred inhabitants, there having been 
a marked increase in the population as well as in the value of property 
during the past two years. 

There . being no gold or silver mines in Colusa, it contains neither 
quartz mills nor extensive canals— the only water ditches being a few 
of small dimensions designed for irrigation. There are two steam flour- 
ing mills, carrying five run of stone, and two saw mills, the latter of 
small capacity, there being but little lumber made in the county. In 
fact, it contains no timber, with the exception of a limited amount in 
the Coast Eange, suitable for this purpose. Many of the water courses 
were originally skirted by narrow belts of trees, consisting chiefly of 
sycamore and cottonwood; but these having been mostly cut away the 
settled parts of the county are but scantily supplied with fuel and fenc- 
ing timber. 

Deposits of sulphur, copper and cinnabar exist in the foot-hills of the 
Coast Range; but as the latter two have been but little worked, nothing- 
positive can be affirmed in regard to their extent or value. The sul- 
phur bed, in the same vicinity, about thirty miles westerly from Colusa, 
consists of large masses of native mineral, some of it quite pure, other 
j)ortions being largely mixed with earthy matter. For the purpose of 
relieving it of these impurities, refining works have been erected on 
the spot, and considerable quantities of a good merchantable article 
produced. The limited demand, however, existing on this coast has 
caused a suspension of operations at this refinery ; though such is the 
abundance of the raw material here, and the facility with which it can 
be gathered and refined, that with a home market even at moderate 
prices, these works could be profitably operated. 

During the years 1864-65 a number of wells were bored in this 
section of the county in search of petroleum ; none of them, however, 
met with any success, though several were sunk to a depth of two or 
three hundred feet. The incentive to these borincrs consisted in a 



298 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

number of petroleum springs located in the vicinity, the natural flow 
from some of which is copious and constant. 

SUTTEE COUNTY. 

This county is named in honor of General John A. Sutter, one of 
the earliest American settlers in California, and once one of the largest 
landholders of the State. This gentleman still continues to reside on 
Hock Farm, a small, but beautiful and highly cultivated tract of land 
on the west bank of Feather river, all that now remains to him of his 
once vast possessions. 

This county is bounded by Butte on the north, by Tuba and Placer 
on the east, by Sacramento and Yolo on the south, and by Yolo and 
Colusa counties on the west. Though of small dimensions, being 
scarcely forty miles long, north and south, and but fifteen wide, it is 
among the most fertile, thoroughly cultivated, and, for its size, largely 
productive counties in the State. While grain planting forms the princi- 
pal pursuit of the inhabitants, fruit growing, dairying, stock, sheep 
and swine raising, each comes in for a large share of attention, and is 
made to contribute materially towards swelling the wealth and adding 
to the annual exports of the county. 

Sutter, forming a delta between the Sacramento and Feather rivers, 
is composed chiefly of the rich bottom lands lying adjacent to those 
streams ; almost the only inequality of the surface, except a few low 
rolling prairies, that occurs within its limits, consisting of the Sutter 
Buttes, an isolated gi'oup of peaks, three in number, and joiued at 
the base, standing in the northwestern part of the county. They form 
a conspicuous object in the landscape, the level character of the sur- 
rounding country rendering them visible for a long distance in every 
direction. Save the Sacramento and Feather rivers, there are no streams 
of any size in the county. 

As Sutter grows no timber suitable for making good lumber, there 
is not a saw mill in it. A narrow strip of sycamore and cottonwood, 
along the two rivers mentioned, with a few scattered oaks elsewhere, 
constitutes about the only native growth of trees found within its limits. 
Neither have any mines or mineral deposits ever been found here; 
consequently Sutter is without quartz mills, canals or other hydi-aulic 
works. 

The present population of the county is estimated at about six 
thousand, being, as in all purely agricultui'al communities, largely 
made up of families. There are but few to-mis, and none of large size; 
Yuba City, the county seat, containing not more than four or five hun- 



COrofTLES OF CALIFOBNIA. ' 299 

dred inhabitants, -while Nicolaus, seventeen miles to the southeast, and 
the next in size, has not over three or four hundred. Vernon, Meridian, 
Eome, and West Butte, are hamlets, having from fifty to two hundred 
inhabitants each. 

The real and personal property of this county in 1867 was assessed 
at $1,732,266. The amount of land under cultivation that year was 
estimated at sixty-five thousand acres; the quantity of wheat raised 
in 1866 approximating two hundred and seventy thousand bushels, 
being somewhat less than was raised the following year. A great deal 
of barley is also raised, with a small quantity of oats, Indian com 
and other grain. Fruits and vineyards have been extensively cultivated, 
many trees and vines having been planted, and several thousand gallons 
of wine made every year. Oranges, olives, figs, pomegranates and 
almonds grow here with vigor and ripen in the open air. Over one 
hundred thousand pounds of butter is made annually; the swamp and 
tule lands, of which there is a broad belt running north and south 
through the coimty, affording green and succulent pasturage for the 
cows during the summer and greatly increasing their yield of milk. 

The culture of the castor bean has received a good deal of attention 
in Sutter for several years past; over sixty acres having been planted 
in 1866, and a much larger number the ensuing year, the yield of which 
was exceedingly prolific. 

TUBA COtTNTT. 

Tuba is another of those interior counties, the industry of which, 
from their position along the line of contact of the alluvial valleys and 
the great mineral range of the State, has been largely diversified by a 
mixture of agricultural, pastoral, and mining pursuits. Lying partly in 
the rich and extensive valleys of Dry creek, Yuba, Bear, and Feather 
rivers, and partly on the foot-hills and lower slopes of the Sierra, cut 
by these streams and their affluents, it is composed almost entirely of 
choice farming, grazing and mining lands; more than one fourth of its 
area consisting of the latter. Besides its grain growing capacities, the 
abundance of the wild oats and native grasses, found both upon the 
hills and in the valleys, renders this a large sheep and stock growing 
county. Yuba is geographically surrounded as follows, viz : on the 
northwest by Butte; on the east by Sierra and Nevada; on the south 
by Nevada, Placer and Sutter, and on the west by Sutter county. Its 
extreme length, measured northeast and southwest, is fifty-seven, and 
its average width about eighteen miles. There are no lofty peaks within 
its limits; nor is any portion of the county, except the northeastern 



300 ' THE NATUE.\I; 'WEALTH OF C.VLIFOK>nU.. 

corner, extremely rugged or broken, thougli the river canons gradually 
deepen, and tlie foot-hills swell to greater heights as they extend north 
and east into the Sierra. 

The county is watered by the Feather river, separating it from Sut- 
ter on the west; by the Main Tuba and its Middle Fork; by Bear river, 
dividing it from Placer and Sutter counties on the south; by Honeciit 
creek, its northwestern boimdary, and by Dry creek, running centrally 
through it from northeast to southwest. Originally the banks of these 
streams were timbered along their lower portions, after the manner 
common in this region — a few oaks being scattered over the valley 
lands and lower foot-hills. But the most of this growth has now been 
removed, though there is still an abundance of fine timber along the 
eastern border and in the northern part of the county, where large 
quantities of lumber are made every year — Yuba containing seventeen 
saw mills, nearly all of which are kept steadily employed cutting lumber 
for domestic consumption. These mills have each capacity to make 
from four to twenty thousand feet of sawed stuff daily, and cost in the 
aggTCgate one hundred and thirty thousand dollars. 

Located at Marysville, the principal town in the county, are a num- 
ber of industrial establishments, the most important of which is a 
woolen mill, erected in 1867, and started in the month of September of 
that year. It is driven by steam, and has seven looms, with all the 
appurtenances requisite to the manufacture of blankets and flannels, 
the only goods thus far made. The fabrics turned out here, though 
not yet largely introduced in the general market, are approvingly 
spoken of by the trade. Marysville also contains a foundry and machine 
shop, a sash and door factory, soap works, and several other manu- 
facturing establishments of less moment. The town is also provided 
with gas and water works of much greater capacity than its present 
population requires. A few years since there were many thousand pine 
trees tapped in this county, it having for a time shared with Butte 
the business of gathering and manufacturing the sap of this tree into 
rosin and turpentine. Latterly, but little has been done here, though 
the business would no dotibt be resumed should these commodities 
undergo any appreciable advance in price. 

The population of Tuba numbers twelve thousand, of whom about 
five thousand are residents of Marysville, the county seat and priuci^Dal 
town in it. This place occupies a pleasant site on the west bank of 
Feather river, at the head of steamboat navigation on that stream. It 
is regularly laid out and well built up — the more central parts being 
comjjosed of spacious fire-proof stores, hotels and other business 



COUNTIES OP CAXIFOENIA. 301 

structures, and the suburbs abounding in tasty mansions and neat cot- 
tages — the most of them occupying ample grounds planted with vines, 
fruit trees and vegetables, and embellished with ornamental shrubbery 
and flowers. Its position at the head of navigation secures to it a 
large trade with the coimtry around, as well as with the mining towns 
and camps in the interior, and renders it the shipping point for almost 
the entire products of the county. 

Camptonville, forty-one miles northeast of the county seat, is, next 
to the latter, the largest town in Tuba, it having a population of about 
six hundred. After this, taking them in the order of population, comes 
Smartsville, Brown's Valley and Timbuctoo, each having a population 
of two or three hundred in and immediately about it — there being many 
other villages in the mining districts, each of which forms the nucleus 
of a small and generally prosperous community, and the center of an 
active local trade. As in most of the mining counties, there are here 
many towns and camps which now number less than a tithe of the 
population they contained ten or fifteen years ago, when the placers 
about them were still rich and virgin. 

The assessed value of the real and personal property in Tuba was 
fixed at four million one hundred and forty-one thousand dollars for 
:he year 1866. The enclosed land amounts to about one hundred and 
thirty-five thousand acres, of which more than one fourth is under 
cultivation. Both here and in the adjacent counties, large tracts of land 
in the foot-hills are surrounded by fences of a cheap and temporary 
jvind, merely for restraining stock. The principal grain raised is wheat, 
of which about seventy-five thousand bushels were grown in 1867. 
Large quantities of barley, oats, buckwheat and Indian corn are also 
sown every year — the yield of these cereals often being large. Fifteen 
acres planted to the castor bean in 1866 yielded two thousand three 
hnndred bushels, the plant of 1867 having been much larger. Many 
cattle, horses, sheep and hogs are raised here, wool forming one of the 
leading exports of the county, and large quantities of ham and bacon 
being cured for market. 

The culture of fruits and vines receives great attention in this 
county — the orchard of G. G. Briggs, near Marysville, being one of 
the most valuable in the State, both as regards extent, yield and excel- 
lence of fruits. Even in the foot-hills there are many large and prolific 
orchards and vineyards, some of them containing from three to five 
thousand apj)le trees, and over thirty thousand vines. Lemons, 
oranges, olives, almonds, etc., grow well in all the lower parts of the 



302 THE NATDRAL WE.\I.TH OF CALIFOENU. 

county, where, also, cotton and tobacco, of fair quality, can be raised 
■with irrigation and a little extra care. 

The real and personal prop6rty in Tuba was assessed for the year 
1867 at $3,039,025, independent of the value of mines. The great 
advantages enjoyed for receiving imported goods in this county by 
means of the Sacramento river, and the railroad extending north from 
Marysville, and of shipping away its surplus products through the 
same channels, have added largely to the population and wealth of 
Tuba. The prospect of an early completion of the partially built and 
long delayed railroad between Marysville and Lincoln, whence there is 
already a road in operation to Folsom, promises a material increase of 
these advantages, inasmuch as this would secure to Tuba uninter- 
rupted railroad communication with Sacramento and ultimately with 
San Francisco. 

For a number of years the placer mines along the Tuba and else- 
where in this county proved extremely rich, some of this class of claims 
still worked here being among the most largely productive and remu- 
nerative in the State. Scarcely anything in the history of California 
mining has sui'passed the success attending the working of the Blue 
Gravel claim, at Smartsville, in this county, during the forty-three 
months prior to December, 1867 — the total amount taken out in this time 
having been $873,409, of which $564,500 were net profits. At Tim- 
buetoo, an early mining camp two miles from this place, many millions 
of dollars have been washed out, the auriferous gravel, though worked 
as low as practicable with the present tunnels, not yet being exhausted. 

The washing here, as well as in many other localities in the county, 
is performed by hydraulic pressure, sluicing, and the several other 
modes in use being also practiced. The most important quartz mining 
district in Tuba is that of Brown's Valley, where there are a large 
number of veins, some of which have been opened to considerable 
depths and found to be of good size, well walled, rich, and compact; 
the ore paying, by ordinaiy mill process, from twenty to thirty dollars 
per ton, the gold being mostly free and easily saved. A niunber of 
mills have been put up in this district, the net earnings of which have 
in all cases been fair, and in some quite large. There are twelve quartz 
mills in the county, the whole carrying ninety-six stamps, and costing 
in the aggregate $240, 000. Some of these mills are large and very 
perfect in their appointments, having cost over $50, 000. 

Twenty-six canals and water ditches have been built, lying wholly 
or mostly in Tuba ; only one of these, however, the Excelsior Canal, 
taking water from Deer Creek and conducting it to the diggings about 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOENIA. 303 

Smartsville, Timbuetoo, Eose's Bar, and other points further west, is 
of any great magnitude. This work has an entire length of one hun- 
dred and fifty miles, and cost over half a million dollars. The aggre- 
gate cost of the other ditches has been about $150, 000. 

TOLO COUNTY. 

This is exclusively an agricultural county, farming, dairying, stock- 
raising, and fruit growing, in their several departments, constituting 
the sole occupation of the inhabitants. Yolo has a long, irregular 
shape, its longitudinal axis reaching a distance of sixty miles north- 
west and southeast, and its width averaging about twelve miles. It is 
surrounded by the following counties, viz : Colusa, north ; Sutter 
and Sacramento, east ; Solano and Napa, south — Solano, Napa, and 
Lake lying to the west. The eastern half of the county is almost a 
dead level. Succeeding this flat portion on the west is a belt of slightly 
undulating prairie, which gradually rises into the lower slopes of the 
Coast Hange of mountains, that cover the western parts of the county. 
The level district consists mostly of a rich alluvial soil ; a strip border- 
ing the Sacramento river and Sycamore Slough, varying in width from 
two to five miles, being tule land. The bottoms along Putah and Cache 
Creeks, the latter running centrally through the country, and the former 
skirting its southern border, are among the most fertile in the State. 
Cottonwood, sycamore and willow grow along the water courses, and 
oak sparsely, with a little pine on the foothills of the Coast Range. As 
the amount of timber fit for making lumber is limited, there are but 
two saw-mills in Yolo; one of which, situated at "Washington, on the 
Sacramento river, obtains its timber supply from points outside the 
county. 

Yolo being, so far as discoveries extend, destitute of metaliferous 
or mineral deposits, and having, therefore, no occasion for canals, 
quartz mills, or reduction works, none have been built within its limits. 
Neither has much money been laid out in the construction of roads, 
or in the erection of machinery for manufacturing purposes ; the level 
and open character of the country requiring but few improvements of 
the former kind, while the liberal rewards that have generally attended 
agricultural pursuits have tended to discourage the introduction of 
new industries. 

The population of Yolo numbers about ten thousand, the most of 
whom reside upon farms, and are very generally distributed over the 
county. Woodland, the county seat, located on the south side of Cache 
creek, eight miles west of the Sacramento river, contains about one 



304 THE NATtXR-VL WEALTH OF CAIIFOEXIA. 

thousand two hundred inhabitants. Knight's Landing, ten miles north 
of Woodland, has a population of about five hundred. Being on the 
Sacramento river, and in the vicinage of a rich farming district, large 
quantities of grain and other agricultural products are shipped hence 
every season. "Washington, containing about two hundred inhabitants, 
situated on the west bank of the river, opposite Sacramento city, is 
also the supply and shipping point for a considerable extent of back 
country. Yolo, Charleston (formerly Fremont), Prairie, Cache Creek, 
and Buclieye, are towns of less size, scattered over the eastern and 
southern sections of the county. 

The assessable property in Yolo was valued in 1866 at S2, 390, 232. 
The quantity of fenced land amounts to about 170,000 acres, of which 
90, 000 are under cultivation, the most of it being planted to wheat and 
barley. Of the former, 48,000 acres were sown in 1866, proditcing 
nearly 1,500,000 bushels of grain; the breadth planted the following 
year having been somewhat broader, though the total product was 
scarcely so large. The quantity of barley raised here at one time 
greatly exceeded the wheat — less having been sown the past few 
years. 

The wheat crop for 1866, was 867,590 bushels, raised on 26,408 acres 
— only 18, 075 acres being sown the following year. During the year 
1866, 10,000 bushels of oats; 1,250 of rye; 16,120 of Indian corn ; 
150 of buckwheat ; 200 of peas ; 4, 000 of castor beans, and 4, 042 of 
peanuts, together with 1, 500 pounds of tobacco, and six of silk cocoons 
were raised. Eight hundred and eighty-four acres of broom corn were 
planted; 97,020 poimds of butter, 7,040 of cheese, 162,680 of wool, 
and 26, 244 of honey were prodiiced the same year, besides large quan^ 
titles of hay, potatoes, beets, onions and other vegetables. In 1866, 
Yolo contained the following number of fruit trees : 29,430 apple ; 
31, 351 peach ; 12, 148 pear, with a considerable number of other fruit 
trees, including a few of the lemon, orange, and olive. There were 
then 157,434 grape vines gi-owing in the coiinty, 18,637 gallons of wine 
and 5, 687 of brandy having been made from the vintage of that year. 
According to the Assessor's report for 1866, Yolo contained 59,166 
sheep; 14, 644 hogs; 4,480 horses; 1,976 mules; 2,492 cows, and 4,604 
beef cattle, besides a small number of oxen, asses, calves, goats, etc. 

There are three grist mills in the county carrying seven run of stone, 
there being about 35,000 barrels of flour made annually. In seasons 
of extreme drouth this county suffers in common with most of those 
lying within the rim of the great interior basin, formed by the valleys 
of the San Joaquin and Sacramento, the average yield of the crops 



COLTJIEES OF CALIFOEmA. 305 

liere haying fallen some years as low as eight bushels of wheat to the 
acre — the ordinary average being over twenty. It has occurred here 
that not enough of this cereal has been raised during one of these 
unfavorable years to suffice for seed for the next. The vegetable crop, 
however, more particularly the potatoe, being planted mostly on tlie 
tule lands, never fails; over two hundred sacks of the latter being pro- 
duced to the acre nearly every year. 

SOLANO COTTNTY. 

This county, which has an average length of about thirty miles east 
and west, with a width of twenty-eight miles, is bounded on the north 
by Yolo; on the east by Yolo and Sacramento; on the south by Contra 
Costa county, the Bay of Suisun and the Straits of Carquinez ; and on 
the west by Napa county. This ranks among the most wealthy, popu- 
lous and largely productive agricultural counties in California; it pro- 
ducing the most hay of any one, and containing, next to Santa Clara, 
the greatest amount of land fenced and xmder cultivation; and raising, 
next to that county, the largest quantity of wheat of any in the State. 
Nearly all the inhabitants, with the exception of such as reside in the 
towns and villages, are employed in some of the various departments 
of farming, fruit growing, or stock raising. 

The surface of the county consists mostly of fertile valleys, tule 
lands, undulating prairies and high rounded hills — there being no 
mountain ranges or isolated peaks within its limits. Some portions of 
the tule bottoms, which embrace an area of ninety thousand acres, 
having been reclaimed, are found to make valuable garden, grain and 
meadow lands — the crops planted upon them never failing, however dry 
Aie season. The whole country, even to the summits of the highest 
hills, was originally covered with wild oats, bunch and other native 
grasses; large areas of which undisturbed by the plough still remain, 
furnishing abundant pasturage for the extensive herds of stock that 
feed upon it Tvinter and summer. The soil nearly everywhere is a rich, 
clay loam; that in the valleys and along the streams being deep and 
extremely productive. Including the tule marshes, fully two thirds of 
the land in the county may be considered arable, the balance affording, 
at least enough grass to render it valuable for sheep and cattle ranges.. 

Solano, though tolerably weU watered by a number of smaU streams 
and sloughs running across it, is one of the most sparsely timbered, 
counties in the State; the prairies and hiUs being barren of trees of 
any kind whatever, while the growth along the water courses, origin- 
ally limited in extent, is now nearly all cut away. It contains no. quartz. 
20 



306 THE NATXJEAL WEALTH OF aVLIFORNLV. 

mills or mining ditches — no metaliferous deposits of importance having 
ever been found Avithin its borders. There is, however, on the hills 
near Suisun valley, an extensive and valuable bed of marble, which 
has been worked for the past ten or twelve years, and from which con- 
siderable quantities of stone have been taken both for ornamental and 
building pui-poses. Some of the blocks broken out here have been of 
large size, frequently measuring from seven to nine hundred cubic feet. 
This marble, which is fine grained and compact, readily receiving a high 
polish, bears in its rough state a strong resemblance, in color, to rosin. 
The chips, and such pieces of the stone as are unfit for dressing, are 
burned into lime, of which they make an excellent article. 

In the hills adjacent to Benicia, a species of lime stone, lying in 
small veins, is found, from which is made a very superior hydraulic 
cement. After being quarried, this rock is burned in kilns and then 
ground into an impalpable powder, extensive works having been erected 
near the quarries for the purpose of burning and grinding it. Near 
this town, as well as at several other points in the county, are located 
mineral springs, some of which are much resorted to on account of the 
sanitary properties of their waters. 

The assessable property of • Solano, in 1866, was set down at $4,042,- 
000, and the population at 15,000 — both of which have since been some- 
what augmented. It contains two considerable towns — Benicia, on the 
Straits of Carquinez, with a population of 1,600, and Vallejo, three miles 
to the northwest, with a population of about 2,000. The former was 
laid out in 1847, and being at the head of ship navigation on the waters 
of the bay, and thirty miles nearer the interior than San Francisco, it 
became at one time a sharp competitor with the latter for the position 
of commercial metropolis of the Pacific. Failing in this, it became 
twice the capital of the State, the inhabitants having put forth strenu- 
ous efforts to make it the permanent seat of the State government. 

The extensive foundries and machine shops of the Pacific Mail 
Steamship Company having for many years been located here, have 
added much to the population and business of the place. One mile 
east of the town are located the arsenal and barracks belonging to the 
General Government, an important auxiliary to the trade of Benicia 
and the country adjacent. The local industry of the place is further 
aided by the extensive cement works situated near it — by two tanneries, 
employing quite a large force of hands, producing considerable quanti- 
ties of excellent leather, and by a first class flouring mill, recently 
erected, carrying five run of stone, and capable of grinding four hun- 
■ dred barrels of flour daily. 



COUNTIES OF CALITOENIA. 307 

This town lias for many years been distinguished for the number 
and high literary character of its institutions of learning, some of them 
being among the earliest established in California, and all rankino- 
with the most popular and flourishing establishments of the kind now- 
existing in the State. Chief among these literary institutions is the 
Benicia Female Seminary ; the Benicia College and Boarding School, 
and the St. Catharine's Academy, conducted by the Sisters of St. 
Dominic, together with a liberally patronized and efficient Law School. 

Vallejo, founded in 1850, became afterwards, like Benicia, an aspi- 
rant for the State capital, which, having been located there in January, 
-1852, was soon after removed, the terms stipidated for on the part of 
the State having failed to be complied with. The United States have 
established here a Navy Yard, which, though but partially completed, 
has been projected on a scale so grand and perfect that it promises to 
be, when finished, one of the most complete and extensive works of 
the kind in the world, the entire cost involving an expenditure of some 
eighteen or twenty million dollars. 

An area of thirty acres of land, exclusive of water surface, having 
been secured by the General Government on Mare Island, opposite 
the town, and the whole having been graded to the proper level, there 
have since been erected upon it immense storehouses, smitheries, foun- 
dries, carpenter and machine shops, timber sheds, and quarters for 
ofiicers and workmen, the whole constructed of brick, on the most 
improved plans and in the most substantial manner. Stone quays, 
sectional dry docks, basins and railways — a magazine, shell-house and 
cisterns, and other necessary appurtenances have here been built, all 
with a view to the greatest attainable efficiency and permanency, and 
on a scale, not only equal to the present wants of the navy and the com- 
mercial marine of the Pacific coast, but adequate to the vastly increased 
demands upon the capacities of a work of this kind that are likely to 
grow out of the future. In cases where private dry docks are insuf- 
ficient to accommodate merchant vessels, they can be put upon the 
Government works by simple payment of expenses of repairs, and of 
operating the same. 

Vallejo is a pleasant and prosperous town, enjoying, by virtue of its 
position, certain natural advantages which, if properly improved, can 
scarcely fail to make it a place of considerable industrial activity and 
commercial importance. Possessing an equable and salubrious climate; 
capable of being approached by vessels of the largest burden; backed 
by a rich agricultural district, and likely to be the terminus of one, and 



308 THE NATCT.^VL TTEALTn OF CjVLEFOKNLA.. 

perhaps several railroads, connecting it with points further in the 
interior, it seems destined to be a to^vu of milch future imiDortance. 

Fairfield, the county seat, a village containing four- or five hundred 
inhabitants, is situated on the east side of Suisun Slough, near the 
center of the coimty. 

Suisun City, located one mile south of Fairfield, and having a popu- 
lation of about oner thoxisand, is a toAvn of considerable local impor- 
tance, being at the head of steamboat navigation on the slough, -which, 
up to this point, is much wider and deeper than any of the other navi- 
gable sloughs of the State. Steamers run direct from this place to 
San Francisco daily, whence it is distant fiftj'-four miles. Numerous 
small sailing vessels also ply constantly between these two points, this 
being the embarcadero for more than half the j^roducts of the county. 
The town, which is ten miles in a straight line from Suisun Bay, and 
sixteen by the slough, is surrounded by tule lands to the extent of one 
mile on every side, the site being scarcely more than a foot above the 
water at ordinary stages, and being overflowed by the spring tides, 
except such lots as may have been raised by filling them in with earth, 
or protected by embankments. Fairfield, occuping a site on the edge 
of the tule marsh, is located on the line of the projected railroad route 
from Benicia to Marysville. 

At Yacaville, a town of 400 inhabitants, situated in a rich agricul- 
tural district, twenty miles northeast of Fairfield, there is a flourishing 
literary institution, known as the Pacific Methodist College. Collins- 
ville, a landing on Suisun Bay, near the mouth of the Sacramento 
river, is worthy of note as being a point at which the steamers plying 
betn^een San Francisco and Sacramento touch during the salmon sea- 
son, and take on large numbers of these fish, more being shipped here 
than at any other place in the State. 

From Eio Vista, a town of two hundred inhabitants, twenty miles 
above, many of these fish are also sent every day to San Francisco. 
Silveyville, Maine Prairie, Denverville and Piockton are small rural vil- 
lages situate in dift'erent parts of the county, containing each fi'om fifty 
to three himdred inhabitants. 

According to the Assessor's reports for 1866, there were 480, 000 
acres of land enclosed in Solano that year, of which 175,800 were 
under cultivation. One hundred and forty-one thousand acres sown 
to wheat and 21,000 to barley, produced, the foimer 2,117,250, and 
the latter 525,000 bushels. The estimated area planted to these 
grains, in 1867, was 160,000 acres of wheat and 18,000 of barley. In 
1866, four hundred acres of oats yielded 8, 200 bushels ; 10 acres of 



COtTNTIES OF aULITOBNIA. 309 

rye yielded 190 bushels ; 510 acres of Indian corn yielded 10,800 bush- 
els, and thirty acres of buckwheat yielded 675 bushels. Twenty-three 
thousand five hundred tons of hay were cut, and 3,300 pounds of to- 
bacco were raised, the latter on seven acres of land. The product of 
butter for the year was 60,000 pounds ; of cheese, 15,000 pounds ; of 
honey, 2,500 pounds, and of wool, 280,000 pounds. The grape vines in 
the county numbered 950,600, from the vintage of which 84,350 gal- 
lons of wine and 5,470 of brandy were made. Solano, while it raises 
a good many apples, peaches, and pears, is not remarkable as a fruit 
growing county. In 1866 it contained 8,440 horses; 1,470 mules; 
35,600 sheep; 12,300 hogs, and 14,215 head of neat cattle. There 
are three steam flouring mills in the county, the whole carrying nine 
run of stone, and having cost in the aggregate about $100,000. 

SACRAMENTO COnSTTY. 

This county, deriving its name from the Sacramento river flowing 
along its western border, is bounded northerly by Sutter and Placer, 
easterly by El Dorado and Amador, southerly by San Joaquin, and 
westerly by Solano and Yolo counties. Its average length, measured 
north and south, is thirty-six, and its width about thirty miles; giving 
it a superficial area <Si six hundred and ninety-one thousand two hun- 
dred acres. The surface, with the exception of a strip six or eight 
miles in width on its eastern side, which rises into low ridges and roll- 
ing prairies, is almost entirely level. Stretching along the Sacramento 
river is a belt of tule land, which continuing quite narrow until it has 
reached the middle of the county, gradually expands to a width of 
fifteen or sixteen miles. Skirting this tule marsh is a strip of rich 
alluvial soil, varying in width from two to five miles, where, the surface 
gently rising, the soil becomes more light and gravelly, and is less cer- 
tain of producing good crops except in extreme wet seasons. The low 
hills to the east of this belt, possessing a warm red soil, bring good 
crops of grain when carefully tilled and the season is not imusually 
dry. Upon these hills grow scattered oak trees; the timber elsewhere, 
consisting mostly of oak, sycamore and cottonwood, being confined 
chiefly to the alluvial flats and the banks of the streams. The timber 
belt along the Sacramento was at one time so broad and dense as to 
render the navigation of that stream difiicult by sail vessels, this 
craft often being several days making the passage even with a favor- 
able wind from the mouth of the river to the Embarcadero, as the land- 
ing where Sacramento city now stands was called prior to and for some 
time after the American occupation of the country. 



310 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CAlIFOENLi. 

Flowing across the uortlieru end of the county, from northeast to 
southwest, is the American river; the Cosumnes running centrally across 
it in the same direction. Dry Creek, having a nearly parallel course, 
separates this from San Joaquin county. The two last named streams 
reach the Sacramento through the broad expanse of tule marsh by 
many devious channels ; the whole constituting such a labyiinth of 
creeks, lakes and sloughs, that only those well acquainted with them 
can attempt theii- passage with safety. The main Sacramento river, 
also separated as it flows south into diverse branches called sloughs, 
some of which are very intricate, runs across the broad tule bottoms 
in crooked channels, cutting them up into numerous small and several 
large islands. The same is the case with the San Joaquin river in the 
next county south, where there is a still greater area of these marshes, 
and where this system of islands and sloughs is still more wide spread 
and complicated. 

The county of Sacramento, apart from its agTicultural and mineral 
wealth, the latter considerable and the former very large, enjoys many 
advantages, some being the result of the enterprise and sagacity of its 
inhabitants, and others incident to its geogi-aphical position. Owing to 
these auspicious circumstances and its favorable location, the industries 
of the city and county have been considerably varied — commercial, 
farming, and mining pursuits engrossing the attention of the inhabit- 
ants in an almost equal degree, while manufacturing and mechanical 
pursuits have not been neglected. 

Situated at the head of navigation for large vessels on the Sacra- 
mento, backed by a rich farming and mineral region immediately adja- 
cent, and connected with the more remote interior by means of well 
constructed wagon roads and railways, and with the coimtry above by 
rivers navigable for smaller craft, its trade, already large, is likely to 
attain still greater proportions in the future. The manufacturing 
interests of the city and county, though not yet much diversified, are 
quite extensive, consisting of nearly all the occupations and callings 
found in California. 

In the city is the large foundry and machine shop of Goss & Lam- 
bard, manufacturing every manner of engine and machinery made from 
iron, brass, or copper, and having a capacity to employ a hundred 
workmen. The products of these works', which are large, have a good 
reputation throughout all the central and northern mining districts of 
California and the State of Nevada. The Union Iron "Works, lately 
much improved and enlarged, are also doing a prosperous business. 
The immense workshops of the Central Pacific Eaih'oad Co. employ a 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOKNIA. 311 

large force of hands, and contribute materially to the wealth and pros- 
perity of the city. Three steam flour mills, the Lambard, with four, 
the Phoenix, with three, and the Pioneer, with six run of stone, having 
a joint capacity to turn out eleven hundred and fifty barrels of flour 
daily, are kept constantly busy during the grinding season ; there 
being two other flouring mills in the county — one of a single run of 
stone, at Michigan Bar, and one of four run at Folsom. The Granite 
Mill, at Ashland, carrying five run of stone, not long since destroyed 
by fire, is about to be rebuilt. 

Besides these mills and works, there are in the city two steam saw 
mills, of large capacity, one having a planing machine and a sash and 
blind factory attached. There are also two door, sash and blind facto- 
ries, run by horse power ; an iron door and shutter factory, two pot- 
teries, a broom, a soap, a glue, and a candle factory, with many minor 
establishments, making various articles of utility, and giving profitable 
employment to local capital and a large aggregate number of workmen. 

The city abounds with spacious halls erected for the use of various 
benevolent and literary associations and orders, contains a number of 
good hotels, several fine edifices erected for the purposes of religious 
worship, amusement, the making of laws, and for the administration of 
justice — the county court-house, used also for the sessions of the State 
Legislature, being one of the best constructed buildings in the country 
Here is no\7 being erected the State Capitol, an edifice which, when 
completed, will not only surpass in the grandeur of its proportions, 
the splendor of its architecture, and the durability of its materials, 
all other structures on the Pacific coast, but which will compare favor- 
ably with any of the capitol buildings of the older States. 

Sacramento city contains a number of high schools of acknowledged 
excellence, has an efficient fire department, extensive gas and water 
works, several large well selected libraries apart from that belonging 
to the State, and can justly boast of a newspaper press hardly second 
to any other, whether here or elsewhere, in point of ability and enter- 
prise. 

Located in the edge of the town are the extensive grounds, with 
booths and other necessary appendages, of the State Agricultural Soci- 
ety; the elegant and spacious pavilion, erected by the citizens for the 
use of that institution, being within the limits of the city. Running out 
of Sacramento are two railroads, one extending to Shingle Springs, 
El Dorado county, a distance of forty-six and a half miles, and the 
other, the Central Pacific, running across the Sierra Nevada, and now 
completed to a point distant one hundred and fiftj miles east of the 



312 THE NATUn.iL •VPEALTH OF CU^IFOENIA. 

city, -witli the prospect of being extended at least three himdred miles 
further by the end of 1868. 

Spanning the Sacramento river, opposite the city, is the Tolo 
Bridge, eight hundred feet long and twenty-eight wide, one of the 
finest structures of the kind in the State, and built so substantially 
that it has been able to resist all the floods occurring since its erection. 
There are several other costly bridges in the county, built for viaducts 
or aqueducts across the American and Cosumnes rivers. 

Not a city in California has suiTered more frequently and severely 
from conflagrations and floods than Sacramento, it having been exten- 
sively damaged by the latter on several occasions, and been two or 
three times swept nearly out of existence by fire. It has also been 
the scene of violent and bloody contentions growing out of conflicting 
land titles, from all of which, aided by its natural advantages, and 
sustained by the persevering spirit of its people, it has managed to 
recover, advancing steadily in wealth, jpopulation and business. In 
its numerous fireproof buildings and extended water works, the city 
now finds ample protection against further sweeping conflagi'ations, 
while in its system of broad levees, encompassing it on every side, it 
enjoys an almost certain immunity from disastrous floods. 

The city, which besides being the State Capital, is also the county 
seat, is shown by a recent census to contain 15,987 inhabitants, 8,374 
of whom are white males, and 6,2'13 white females, the balance con- 
sisting of the colored and mixed races, five hundred of the number 
being Chinese. 

Folsom, the next important town in the county after Sacramento 
city, whence it is distant twenty-two miles in an easterly direction, 
contains about eighteen hundred inhabitants. Being on the railroad, 
and surrounded by a considerable scope of mining country, as well as 
a good farming district, it enjoys an active local trade ; the extensive 
granite quarries in the neighborhood also giving emplojTuent to many 
hands. Near the town, on the banks of the American river, most of 
the cobble stones used for paving the streets of San Francisco are 
collected. 

Mormon Island, three miles east of Folsom, is a mining town with 
a population of three or four hundred. Gold washing was commenced 
here within a few days after its introduction at Sutter's mill, having 
first been engaged in by the Mormons — whence the name. The bar 
at this place, thoiigh long smce exhausted, was originally very rich, 
the discoverers having taken out large sums in a short time. There 
are still moderately good diggings in the river banks and flats about 



COUNTIES OP CAIIFOENIA. 313 

the town ; the country for ten or twelve miles in nearly every direction 
aronnd Folsora being auriferous, and some spots paying more than 
average wages. There are a number of other small towns in this 
county, the most of them situated in the agricultural districts, contain- 
ing each from fifty to three hundred inhabitants, the population of the 
entire county numbering about twenty-four thousand. 

Besides a number of rich bars originally found on the American 
and Cosumnes rivers, within the limits of this county, there is along its 
eastern border an auriferous belt, sis or eight miles wide, which, for a 
few feet on the surface, and in some places to a much gxeater depth, 
has been found to pay remunerative wages. For the purpose of sup- 
plying water to these diggings and others lying in the adjoining county 
of El Dorado, a number of canals have been dug the length of these 
works, within the limits of this county, being about thirty miles. 
Although there are many promising quartz veins in Sacramento, they 
have not yet been much prospected, only a single five-stamp mill hav- 
ing been erected in the county. 

The following data, derived from official sources, will convey a good 
idea of the agricultural capacities, and of the products of this county, ' 
for the year 1866: Number of acres of land enclosed, 213,261; under 
cultivation, 92,520; wheat planted, 9,870 acres; barley, 38,147 acres — 
yielding 192,170 bushels of the former, and 863,214 bushels of the lat- 
ter. Of these grains, there were 5,400 acres of wheat, and 80,000 of 
barley sown in 1867. In 1866, there were raised 19, 230 bushels of oats, 
34,237 of Indian corn, 553 of peanuts, 22,327 tons of hay, and 38,300 
pounds of hops, together with large quantities of fruits, vegetables 
and other miscellaneous products. During the same year 379,350 
pounds of butter, 12,000 of cheese, 269,365 of wool, and 15,519 of 
honey were produced. The county then contained 93,303 apple, 89,067 
peach, 36, 830 pear, with a large number of other fruit trees. There 
were 951,315 growing vines, from the vintage of Avhich 63,879 gallons 
of wine and 5, 714 of brandy were made. The stock in the county con- 
sisted of 8,873 horses, 1,828 mules, 12,144 head of neat cattle, 11,339 
hogs, and 49,996 sheep. Touching certain products, mentioned above, 
Sacramento is said to grow them of better quality, if not, also with 
greater facility than most other counties in California. Thus, the hop 
grows here with great luxuriance, the quantity raised in 1867 having 
been 160,000 pounds — more than four times as many as were picked 
the year before — making this the largest hop producing county in the 
State. So also with peanuts, of which there were 4,000 bushels gath- 
ered in the same year; those raised in Sacramento possess, it is claimed, 



314 THE NATUK.\L W'EALTH OF CULITOKNLV. 

a superior flavor. The real and personal property in the county, omit- 
ting mines, was assessed for the year 18CG at $9,443,601. 

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY. 

This county, named from the principal river flowing through it, has 
an average width of about forty by a breadth of thirty-five miles, and 
is bounded as follows, viz: By Sacramento county on the north; by 
Amador, Calaveras and Stanislaus on the east; by Stanislaus on the 
south, and by Alameda and Contra Costa counties on the west. San 
Joaquin is almost exclusively an agricultural county. At one time a 
good deal of placer mining was carried on in its northeastern part, but 
at present very little is being done in this or any other department of 
mining. Neither have any important deposit of minerals or' metals, 
other than gold, been found here. The county occupying the lowest 
point of depression in the great San Joaquin valley, the metaliferous 
formations, except along its eastern border, have been deeply buried 
beneath the heavy mass of alluvium and detritus washed from the sur- 
rounding mountains — and thus placed beyond the easy reach of mining 
exploration. That this deposit has a great depth, is shown by the fact 
that an artesian well, sunk to the depth of one thousand and tn'o feet, 
failed to reach the bed rock, which probably lies much lo-o'er. While 
so little attention has been given to mining, but a limited manufactur- 
ing interest has been developed in San Joaquin, almost the sole pursuit 
of the inhabitants having been agricultural- or commercial — the trading 
community of Stockton and the grain growers of the coimty at large 
composing fully ninety per cent, of the population. 

Of the 896,000 acres comprised within the limits of the county, 
three-f otu'ths, or perhaps a larger proportion, are capable, in favorable 
seasons, of producing good crops of grain. Along the San Joaquin 
river, which spreads out into numerous sloughs, there is, in the north- 
western part of the county, an immense ex2Danse of tule marsh — not 
less in the aggregate than 200,000 acres, much' of which is covered at 
all times by a few inches of water, nearly the whole being submerged 
at high stages of the tide. Late in the season, however, before the 
streams have been raised by the winter rains, large sections of these 
lands becoming dry on the surface — the dense body of rushes, the 
growth of former years, having meantime wilted and dried up, the 
latter often take fire, and burning with terrific fierceness for days in 
succession, many thousand acres are burned over and stripped of both 
the dead and living tules. In all the counties containing large tracts 



COUNTIES OF CAIilFOENIA. 315 

of tule lands, these fires are common, generally occurring in the fall 
and winter. Nor are these conflagrations confined wholly to the rush 
lands. They often break out in the grass and herbage, which late in 
the summer become dry as tinder, and sweeping over the plains and 
mountains, leave millions of acres scorched and blackened, though the 
heat is not generally sufficient to injure the forest trees or larger 
shrubbery. 

This county contains no timber fit for making lumber, and very- 
little that answers even for fencing purposes. Most of the water courses 
are lined with a narrow fringe of oak trees, a few of which are also 
found scattered over the plains in the vicinity of Stockton ; but fully 
three-fourths of the county is treeless, the banks of the San Joaquin, 
omlike those of the Sacramento, being almost wholly without timber. 
Lumber, however, is obtained at moderate rates from the heavily 
wooded mountains to the east ; the teams engaged in hauling supplies 
to the mining districts in that quarter, in the absence of other freight, 
bringing back return loads of lumber, thereby rendering this article 
cheap and abundant in Stockton, whence most of the coxmty derives 
its supply. 

Though crossed by several large streams, this county is not gener- 
ally well watered, many portions suffering from the long dry seasons 
severely. This is especially the case with the districts lying west of 
the San Joaquin river, as well also as with those stretching along the 
base of the foot-hills in the eastern part of the county. The soil, how- 
ever, being nearly everywhere deep and strong, the cereal croj)S are 
almost uniformly good, their yield being generally above the. average 
throughout the State. A large proportion of the soil in this county is 
composed of a stiff black clay, known in California as "adobe" land, 
and which, though extremely fertile and capable of producing heavy 
crops when in proper condition for receiving the seed, owing to its 
retaining the water near the sui-faee, is difficult to cultivate. In dry- 
winters it is easily managed, and more certain to bring a crop than 
the sandy, gravelly soil, of which there is fortunately a great deal ; 
patches of it often lying adjacent to the heavy adobe lands, giving the 
farmers a chance to select such kind as seems best suited to the season. 
Large portions of the rich bottom land along the Mokelumne river, 
and other streams in this county were seriously injured, some of it 
wholly ruined by the sand and gravel brought do-wn and deposited 
upon them by the floods of 1867-8. These deposits varied in depth 
from a few inches to ten or fifteen feet ; this mischief, unhappily, not 
having been confined to this county alone, many of the alluvial bot- 



316 THE NATUEAL WEjU^TH OF CAIIPOENIA. 

toms along tlie Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and their numerous 
tributaries having suffered in like manner. 

From the assessor's report are derived the following statistics touch- 
ing the agricultural products of this county for the year 18G6 : Acres 
of land fenced, 254, 540 ; under cultivation, 123, 855 ; sown to wheat, 
G9, 132— product, 1,139,911 bushels; sown to barley, 48,294 acres— pro- 
duct, 922,000 bushels; 9,275 bushels of oats; 12, 994 of rye, and 26,065 
of Indian corn were raised; 13,657 tons of hay were made from 14,629 
acres of land; 325,615 pounds of butter; 9,465 of cheese; 130,618 of 
wool, and 26,775 pounds of honey were produced; apple trees in the 
county, 47, 673 ; peach, 46, 591 ; pear, 8, 917, with considerable numbers 
of plum, cherry, nectarine, prune, quince, apricot, almond, mulberry, 
and fig trees; vines, 493,387; wine made, 23,347 gallons; brandy, 500 
gallons; number of horses, 8,836; mules, 830; neat cattle, 13,195; 
sheep, 26,278; goats, 650; swine, 13,000. There are in the county six 
steam flouring mills, eighteen run of stone; but no saw mills or quartz 
mills, neither vein mining nor lumber making being carried on here. 
A few small ditches have been dug for irrigating purposes, but none 
for conducting water into the mines, though one or two, lying mainly 
in other counties, extend a short distance into this. The value of the 
real and personal property in the county, fixed by the assessor at 
$5,684,105 for 1866, has been largely increased since — the wheat crop 
of 1867, estimated at 1,686,566 bushels, being alone valued at §1,870,- 
239. Large areas of land have been fenced and brought under the 
plough since the assessor's estimates were made for 1866 — the amount 
of land now enclosed being over 300,000 acres, of which two thirds 
are under cultivation. The breadth of land planted to wheat in 1867 
was 91,790 acres. 

The open and level character of the country rendering the building 
of wagon roads not an absolute necessity, but few of these improve- 
ments have been made within the county. Two gi-aveled roadways, 
however, have recently been completed, leading from Stockton across 
the adobe flats, by which the town is surrounded to the higher and 
firmer lauds beyond — one of these having cost the sum of 615, 000, and 
the other §35,000. 

The county, in its corporate capacity, has extended liberal aid 
towards the construction of two important wagon roads across the 
Sierra — the Sonora and Esmeralda, and the Big Tree and Carson val- 
ley roads — issuing its bonds in the sum of $50,000 to each. It has also 
subscribed $250,000 to the stock of the Western Pacific Railroad, 
designed to connect Stockton with San Francisco, and $100,000 to that 



COUNTIES OF CALIFOKJflA. 317 

of tlie Stockton and Copperopolis Eailroad, both likely soon to be 
built. 'j- 

The population of San Joaquin county numbers about 18,000; a 
larger proportion of whom are women and children than is common in 
most California communities. Stockton, the county seat and principal 
city in this part of the State, contains about 6,000 inhabitants. It is 
situated in the center of the county, at the head of a navigable slough, 
running east six miles from the San Joaquin river. It is surrounded 
by a rich agricultural district, and is connected by means of good 
•vvagon roads with all the important mining counties lying to the east 
and south. Stockton occupies a favorable commercial position, being 
the entrepot and shipping pSint for an immense agricultural region, all 
of which, together with the vast area of mining country lying beyond, 
must draw from it the greater portion of their supplies. Even now it 
may be said to command in a great measure the trade of nearly five 
thousand square miles — a business that will be still further extended 
when the several projected railroads to center here shall have been 
completed. At present, there is a large number of sailing vessels, with 
a daily line of steamers, plying between this place and San Francisco. 
During the year 1867, the arrivals at the levee in this town were 619 
steamers and 447 sail vessels; the former having a carrying capacity of 
76,000 tons, and the latter of 70,000 tons; the whole representing an 
annual freight and passenger traffic equivalent to 146, 000 tons. Besides 
the daily line of steamers running to San Francisco, there are three 
small steamers plying on the San Joaquin river, which is navigable for 
this craft, at favorable stages of water, for a distance of 150 miles 
above Stockton. During the year 1867, there were shipped from this 
place to San Francisco 864,233 bushels of wheat, valued at $1,141,878, 
and 50, 791 bushels of barley, valued at $34, 142. The wool, hides and 
tallow sent away amounted in value to $216,258; poultry, eggs and 
vegetables, to $142,462; wheat, barley and Indian corn, ground, to 
$697,378. The total valuation of the flour and meal ground in the 
county amounted to $828,528, of which all but $131,256 in value was 
the product of the mills in Stockton. Thus, it will be seen that there 
was sent from this place, during the year mentioned, agricultiiral pro- 
ducts alone amounting in value to $2,234,119. Besides these staples, 
a greater or less quantity of minor commodities are every year 
shipped here for San Francisco, or markets abroad — the shipments of 
copper ore having, for several successive years prior to 1867, consti- 
tuted an important item in the exports of this town. 

While the business of Stockton consists chiefly in its trade and com- 



318 THE NATTni.VL WEAiTII OF CALIFOENIA. 

merce, certain mechauical and manufacturing industries have been 
gradually gi-owing np in the place, until some of these have attained to 
very respectable proportions. The Globe Foundry and Machine Shop, 
located here, has a good reputation for work done in its line — some of 
the steam engines made thereat being in use in nearly all the adjacent 
mining counties, and even in districts east of the Sierra Nevada. 
There are also several tanneries in and around Stockton — some of them 
quite extensive, and all enjoying a good reputation for the leather they 
make. Most of the mechanical branches usual in towns of this kind 
are carried on here, blacksmithing and wagon making being very exten- 
sively engaged in. 

Stockton having been laid waste several times by fire, enjoys in its 
present efficient fire department, artesian water works, and numerous 
brick buildings, a good degree of security against this destructive ele- 
ment. The artesian well sunk near the center of the city pours out 
about three hundred and sixty thousand gallons of water per day, which 
rises eleven feet above the orifice whence it issues, and nine above the 
established grade of the city. It is soft and pure, and has a tempera- 
ture of seventy-seven degrees as it comes from the ground. Though it 
has now been flowing for more than ten years, the volume discharged 
has sufi'ered no abatement. 

During the year 1867, over $200, 000 were expended in the erection 
and improvement of buildings in Stockton ; the city having in the 
meantime laid out $85,000 in raising and gravehng the levee and prin- 
cipal streets, and the further sum of $50, 000 on the two graveled roads 
before mentioned — making a total expended on these several improve- 
ments of $335, 000. Notwithstanding these hea-sy outlays, to M'hich are 
to be added the ordinary exjsenses of administering the city govern- 
ment, the local taxes for the year were reduced ten cents on the dollar; 
the finances of both the city and county being in a highly flourishing 
condition. 

A savings' bank founded in Stockton in 1867 had over $500,000 on 
deposit, and was paying good dividends within six months from the 
time it was opened — the stock commanding a handsome premium. 
Withip the present year a bank, with a capital stock of $250,000, has 
been established in the place, the leading monied and business men of 
the town and county being the subscribers for the stock. 

TVTiile the material interests and industries of Stockton have been 
thus wisely cherished and cared for, the religious, social and educa- 
tional well being of the people has not been neglected. The town con- 
tains fourteen churches and ten school houses — some of both classes 



COUNTIES OP CALIFORNIA. 319 

being large and handsome edifices. Several of tlie school houses are 
used as academies and seminaries for instruction in the sciences and 
higher branches of learning. Here a spacious and substantial court 
house, standing in the center of a plaza ornamented with trees and 
fountains, has been built by the county; while the State Lunatic Asy- 
lum, consisting of an immense brick structure, with extensive wings 
and out-buildings, all constructed after the most approved models for 
establishments of this kind, occupies a beautiful grove of ancient oaks 
on the edge of the town. Around it are extensive gardens and pleasure 
grounds, a part cultivated to vegetables and a part planted with flowers 
— the whole being penetrated by broad avenues and walks, and fur- 
nished with seats and arbors, rendering it a fitting resort for the unfor- 
tunate beings confined here for treatment. 

According to the very able report of the Superintendent, dated 
October 1st, 1867, this institution then contained 769 patients, of whom 
552 were males, and 217 females. During the year, 313 new patients 
were admitted ; 125 were discharged, recovered ; 14 were discharged, 
improved ; 89 died, and 9 made their escape. The ratio of recoveries 
to the admissions has been 40 per cent. ; the number of deaths, 8.80 
per cent, of the whole number treated, which does not vary much from 
the average since the founding of the institution in 1851, 

STANISLAUS COUNTY. 

This county, named after one of the principal rivers flowing through 
it, is bounded on the northwest by San Joaquin county ; on the north- 
east by Calaveras and Tuolumne ; on the southeast by Merced, and on 
the southwest by Santa Clara county. It extends forty-eight miles 
measured northeast and southwest, and about twenty-six miles in a 
transverse direction, containing 798, 720 acres, of which a large pro- 
portion is choice farming land. In the eastern part of the county, 
along the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers, there were formerly good 
placer mines ; but these having through many years of steady working 
become greatly depleted, mining in this county now forms but a sec- 
ondary branch of business, three-fourths of the inhabitants being 
engaged in grain growing, dairying, and sheep and cattle raising. 

The greater portion of the county is level, only the eastern portion 
being somewhat undulating, and in a few places broken into slight 
ridges and ravines, while a strip a few miles wide on its western bor- 
der rises into the Coast Eange, having here a general altitude of about 
two thousand feet. With the exception of a few scattered oaks along 
the larger streams, and a sparse growth of the same trees interspersed 



320 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CAIITOEKU.. 

■vvitli au inferior species of pine found on tlie eastern foot-Lills, tlie 
county is destitute of timber. Owing to this circumstance it is also 
■without saw-mills, deriving its lumber supply, like San Joaquin and 
most of the other agricultural counties, from the forests along the 
lower slopes of the Sierra. The principal streams traversing it are 
the San Joaquin, the Stanislaus, and the Tuolumne rivers, all flowing 
in a generally northwest direction. Besides these, it contains only a 
few small creeks and sloughs, mostly dry except in the rainy season. 
Stretching along the San Joaquin is a belt of tule land, a mile or two 
wide; the whole of which could easily be reclaimed, the most of it 
being quite dry in the summer and autumn. Along these water courses, 
especially the larger rivers, extend broad bottoms of exceedingly rich 
soil, upon which the crops hardly ever fail, either from excess of rain 
or drouth. Much of the land on the higher plains between the rivers 
is also very productive ; and, like the river bottoms, the soil, being an 
intermixture of sand and loam, is easily tilled, and when properly pre- 
pared, almost certain to make a good crop. 

While mining here is, as stated, biit a subordinate interest, it still 
gives emplojTnent to quite a large population, who pursue it chiefly in 
the vicinity of Knight's Ferry, once a largely productive placer district, 
and also to some extent on the Tuolumne river, a few miles further 
south. Water to these diggings is furnished by five different ditches, 
lying wholly or partially within the county, the sources of supply being 
the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers and Littlejohn's creek. These 
several works have a united length of forty-three miles, a capacity to 
discharge five hundred inches of water daily, and cost in the aggregate 
about $180,000. Stanislaus contains no quartz mills, no auriferous 
lodes having yet been developed here, if, indeed, any of known value 
have been discovered. 

The population of this county numbers about 3, 500, of whom 600 
reside in and around Knight's Ferry, the county seat, and 250 at La 
Grange, sixteen miles to the southeast. Ilorr's lianch, eighteen miles 
soutli of the county seat, a small agricultural handut, Paradise city, near 
the junction of the Stanislaus and San Joaquin rivers, and Tuolumne city, 
at the head of steamboat navigation on the Tuolumne river, are the 
only other villages in the county. The last two places being in a good 
agricultural neighborhood, and approachable by small steamers, already 
shij) considerable quantities of produce every year, enjoying a lively 
trade with the adjacent districts, and will, doubtless, increase as the 
latter fill iip with settlers. 

In so far as the assessor's report for 1SG6 may be accepted as cor- 



COUNTIES OF CALEFOENIA. 321 

rectj there -were then in this county 60,100 acres of land enclosed 
30,150 being under- cultivation ; 11,190 acres -were sown to wheat — ■ 
product, 150,662 bushels ; 14,308 were sown to barley — product, 181,- 
349 bushels; 560 acres planted to Indian corn yielded 15,560 bushels; 
3,450 tons of hay were made from 3,530 acres of land mown; 50 acres 
of broom corn were planted — and 8,560 pounds of butter, 6,000 of 
cheese, 264,600 of wool, and 6,000 of honey, were produced. The 
numbers of horses, sheep, swine, cattle, etc., were as follows: Of 
horses, 2,751; of mules, 255; of sheep, 75,600; of goats, 200; of swine, 
6,127, and of neat cattle, 5,273. Though fruits and vines thrive well 
in this county, only a moderate share of attention has been given to 
their culture, the total number, of apple trees in 1866 having been but 
5,017, and of peach of 3,069, the number of fruit trees planted of other 
varieties having been quite insignificant. Of vines, there were 112, 310 
growing; the wine made that year amounting to 12,520; the brandy to 
200 gallons. 

There are two grist mills in the county, both driven by water, and 
carrying jointly five run of stone. They cost about $40,000, and are 
capable of grinding 180 barrels of flour daily. But few wagon roads 
have been built in Stanislaus, the nature of the country not calling 
for any large expenditure in this direction. The assessable value of 
the real and personal property in the county was set down in 1866 at 
$1,204,230. 

MEECED COUNTY. 

This county, which receives its name from the Merced river, flowing 
westerly through its northeastern part, is bounded on the northwest by 
Stanislaus, on the northeast by Mariposa, on the southeast by Fresno, 
and on the southwest by Monterey county. It has a longitude, meas- 
ured easterly and westerly, of about sixty miles, with an average breadth 
of twenty-eight miles, giving it an area of 1, 075, 200 acres. Besides 
the Merced, crossing it as described, the San Joaquin river runs cen- 
trally through it, towards the north. In the southeastern corner of the 
county are the following creeks heading in the foot-hills to the east 
and flowing in a southeasterly direction, viz. : Black, Burn's, Bean, 
Deadman's, and Cottonwood, together with the Mariposa and Chow- 
chilla rivers, the latter forming in part the boundary between this and 
Fresno county. These streams, though they all dry up in the summer, 
generally run full and sometimes overflow their banks during the rainy 
season. In everything relating to soil, agriculture, topography, tule 
lands and timber, the remarks made on Stanislaus county relative to 
21 



322 THE NATTIRAl ■WEALTH OF aVLIFOKXIA. 

these several topics will apply equally well to the county now under 
consideration. 

This county being, so far as discovery extends, without mines or 
mineral deposits, except a small scope of unimportant placers in its 
northeastern corner, contains neither quartz mills nor canals, save a few 
irrigating ditches of limited dimensions. Merced is also without saw 
mills — there being no timber here suitable for making lumber. Neither 
have any manufacturing interests as yet obtained a foothold in the 
county, though a woolen mill was in course of erection at the Merced 
Falls in the early part of 1868, with every prospect of being carried to 
an early completion. There are three flouring mills in the county, all 
propelled by water, carrying six run of stone, and having a joint capa- 
city to grind two hundred and forty barrels of flour daily — the amount 
made in 1866 having been seven thousand five hundred barrels. These 
mills cost in the aggregate about $35,000. 

The population of Merced county numbers about two thousand five 
hundred. It contains no large towns ; SneUing, the county seat and 
largest village, having but about two hundred and fifty inhabitants. 

The following facts and figures relative to the agricultural products, 
amount and valuations of property in this county, are taken from the 
assessor's report for 1866 : Amount of land enclosed, 84,550 acres ; 
imder cultivation, 13,968 acres ; planted to wheat, 4,195 acres — prod- 
uct, 57,930 bushels; planted to barley, 9,661 acres — product, 114,750 
bushels; wheat an'd barley planted in 1867, estimated at 4,764 acres of 
the former, and 8,670 of the latter; Indian corn raised in 1866, 17,345 
bushels, on 534 acres ; 9,715 pounds of butter, 1,340 pounds of cheese, 
373,000 pounds of wool, and 2,935 of honey, were produced that year; 
from 100,740 vines, 10,910 gallons of wiue, and 320 of brandy, were 
made. Though fruits of all kinds do well here, their culture has not 
been extensively engaged in. The following indicates the number of 
domestic animals in the county in 1866, viz. : horses, 3,117; mules, 235; 
asses, 40; sheep, 79,487; goats, 258; hogs, 12,483, and neat cattle, 
30, 146. The real and personal property in the county was assessed at 
^1,233,912. 

FEESNO COUNTY. 

This county derives its name from the Fresno river, a small stream 
heading in the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, and flowing westerly 
through its northeastern part. The term, signifying in the Spanish, 
white ash, was applied to this river because of the number of these 
trees originally found growing on its banks. This county extends 
northeasterly and southwesterly a distance of one hundi-ed and twenty 



COUNTIES OP CiillFOENIA. 323 

miles; its average breadth being about sixty-five miles. It is bounded 
as follows, viz: northerly by Merced and Mariposa, easterly by Mono, 
southerly by Tulare, and westerly by Monterey counties. 

With the exception that the vs^hole of its eastern part rises into the 
high Sierra, the topography of Fresno bears a strong resemblance to 
that of Merced county. Nearly a third of its territory comprising the 
vrestern part is extremely dry; the most of it so arid as to produce but 
little grass, and being, at best, fit only for sheep pasturage. Here 
there are no streams during the summer; the winter rains even, some- 
times, fail to start the water running in the dry beds of the creeks. 
Springs are also very scarce, exposing stock to severe suffering in some 
localities during the summer. The whole of this region consists of a 
treeless plain, sloping gently from the foot of the Coast Range to the 
slough, through which the waters of Tulare lake, at high stages, flow 
northerly into the San Joaquin river. The soil on this plain is in some 
places rich and deep, while in others it is gravelly and poor, being 
incapable, even if it were susceptible of irrigation, of producing good 
crops. In the coast moTintains, which separate this from the county of 
Monterey, there is not only more water and grass, but also a sparse 
growth of oak and scrubby pine timber. The several plateaus, lying 
between the rivers that traverse this county, are quite as badly off for 
water, and as barren of timber, as the section described, though gen- 
erally constituting a better cattle range, owing to their greater prox- 
imity to water and better supplies of grass. 

That portion of the county which is covered by the Sierra Nevada, 
is nearly all extremely rugged — the western face of these mountains, 
as well as the higher foot-hills, being cut by tremendous chasms, 
through which flow King's river and the San Joaquin, and their tribu- 
taries. The most of the good farming land in the county, of which 
there is a large area, is situated along the rivers and sloughs — the 
former consisting of a rich, loamy soil, and the latter mostly of tule 
marshes. The reclamation of these marshes, which cover an area of 
about twenty thousand acres, was undertaken some ten years since by 
a party to whom the State made liberal grants thereof, conditioned on 
the completion of a canal designed to effect their thorough drainage; 
and which, after being partially constructed, was abandoned, leaving 
the State still owner of these lands, and the latter remaining in their 
original condition. The plan proposed for their drainage was not only 
feasible, but of easy accomplishment; and there is little doubt but it 
will be carried out, at no distant day, either by the State or those with 
whom it may contract for the performance of the work. With a ditcli. 



324 THE NATUTiAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEJflA. 

such as was projected, once finished, these gi'ounds -would never again 
be subject to overflow, rendering them among the most valuable 
lands in the world — since the green and succulent pastui-age they 
at nearly all seasons afford, would fit them admirably for dairying pur- 
poses, while the cereals, and all the semi-tropical products, coiild, 
without resort to irrigation, be raised here in the greatest perfection 
and abundance. Por the cultui-e of cotton and tobacco, these tule 
lands, if drained, woidd, beyond any question, be especially well 
adapted. 

The only streams of any magnitude in this county, consist of the San 
Joaquin river, which, rising by several large affluents in the Sierra 
Nevada, flows westerly till it reaches the middle of the great valley bear- 
ing its name, when, having received the waters discharging through the 
Tulare slough, it bends to the northwest and pursues its course in that 
direction; and King's river, a still, large stream, which, heading further 
south in the same range of mountains, runs southwesterly till it enters 
the belt of tule before mentioned, when, trending more to the south, it 
empties itself into Tulare lake. Having its sources in the far recesses 
of the Sierra, among peahs covered with perpetual snow, it carries at 
all times an immense volume of water; and, alter reaching the plains, 
flows through many interlacing and tortuous channels, forming innu- 
merable islands, sloughs and lagoons, all of the richest soil and 
heavily timbered, and constituting, with the broad alluvial bottoms 
along its banks, one of the richest and most desirable farming districts 
in the State. The timber growth here consists of sycamore, cotton- 
wood, willow and oak, the latter predominating, and, being of large 
size, affording an abundant mast on which great numbers of swine feed 
and fatten, making the rearing of these animals, which is largely 
engaged in, a lucrative business. 

"While Fresno contains a great deal of excellent land, its agi-icultu- 
ral resources, owing to its remoteness from markets, have been but 
very little developed. In the absence of recent authoritative data on 
the subject, the following rough estimates are stibmitted as approxi- 
mately indicating the amount of its products and wealth in this depart- 
ment in the year 1866, to which an increase of fifteen or twenty per 
cent., perhaps, should be added for gains since made. Number of 
acres of land enclosed in 18G6, 15,000; under cultivation, 4,500; to 
wheat, 800 acres, and to barley 1,000 acres — the former producing 9,000 
and the latter 17,000 bushels. Besides this, several thousand bushels 
of Indian com were raised, and a small quantity of other cereals. 
Although the soil and climate are well adapted to the growing of fruits 



COTINTIES OF CALIPOKNIA. oii5 

and yegetables, only enougli of these are raised for home consumption, 
the markets being too far distant to warrant their cultivation for sale. 

There is a good deal of stock of nearly all kinds kept in this county, 
many beef cattle being raised here for market, and wool forming one 
of its staples of export. The value of the taxable property in 1867, 
exclusive of mines, was estimated at one million dollars. There are 
five saw-mills and one grist-mill in the county, all of moderate cost 
and capacity, and with the exception of one driven by water. 

The population of this county numbers about three thousand. 
There are no towns of any magnitude in it ; Millerton, the county seat 
and largest village, containing less than two hundred inhabitants. 
During the flood of January, 1868, this place was nearly all swept 
away — the San Joaquin river, on the bank of which it is situated, 
having risen at this point twenty feet higher than was ever before 
known, the water being at one time forty-sis feet deep on the site of 
the town. Great damage was at the same time done nearly all over 
the county, in the destruction of fences, buildings, stock, etc., the 
land in many places also being seriously injured in having the soil 
covered up with sand and gravel, or in being entirely washed away. 

Tort Miller, half a mile above the county seat, was, some years ago, 
when the Indians in this section of country were troublesome, garri- 
soned by several companies of soldiers. At present no troops are 
permanently stationed at this place, cutting off the market that before 
existed for many articles produced by the farmer. 

Fresno City, located on the Tulare Lake slough, twenty-iive miles 
above its junction with the San Joaquin, is a to-\Tn with about haK the 
population of Millerton, whence it is distant forty miles to the south- 
west. Small steamers come up to this place throughout the greater 
portion of the year, and there is little doubt but, keeping pace with 
the growth of the country, it will in time come to be a village of con- 
siderable size and importance. 

The Chowchilla, Fresno, and San Joaquin rivers are all more or less 
auriferous, though their banks and the bars along them have never 
been extremely rich, nor the gold obtained of fine quality. They were, 
nevertheless, formerly much worked, as portions of them, more espe- 
cially along the San Joaquin, are still the theatres of active operations. 
There are, however, no quartz mills in the county, vein mining for gold 
never having been atterdpted. Neither are there any canals for con- 
ducting water into the diggings, the miners depending on the high 
stages of the river for water to work their claims. 

Several years shice a great number of copper bearing lodes were 



326 THE NATDBAL WEALTH OF CiVLITORNIA. 

discovered in various localities in this county. In many cases the sur- 
face ore, and in a number of instances also, tliat obtained at consider- 
able depths ujion these veins was extremely rich. A large amount of 
work in the aggregate was done, but not much applied at any one 
point; wherefore, the real value of these lodes remains undetermined, 
though the locators are generally satisfied of their permanence and 
richness — a few opened to the depth of a hundred feet or more, display- 
ing in their estimation sufficient volume and wealth to warrant this 
conclusion. 

In the extreme western part of the county, situated in the Coast 
Eange of mountains, is the New Idria Quicksilver Mine. Having been 
opened some ten years ago under favorable auspices, and worked for 
several years thereafter with satisfactory results, this mine was closed 
by legal proceedings, and remained so until 1865, when work was 
resumed, and has since been steadily kept up upon it, the force of 
hands employed being between two and three hundred. The product 
for the year 1866 was 6,045 flasks, and for the year 1867, 11,500 flasks — 
the yield of the ore for the latter year having been seven per cent, of 
metal. 

TOTiAEE COUNTY. 

This county, deriving its name from the large lake occupying its 
northwestern corner, is the third in point of size in the State— only the 
counties of San Bernardino and San Diego being larger. It extends 
one hundred and thirty miles in a northwesterly and southeasterly 
direction, and has an average width of one hundred miles, giving it an 
area of eight million three hundred and twenty thousand acres. It is 
bounded on the north by Fresno, on the east by Inyo and San Bernard- 
ino, on the south by Los Angeles, and on the west by Santa Barbara 
and San Luis Obispo counties. A large portion of its surface is cov- 
ered by the several chains of mountains that hem it in on three sides — 
the Coast Kange on the west, the Sierra Nevada on the east, and the 
transverse group crossing its southern part and forming the connecting 
link between these two ranges. It thus takes the shape of a great basin, 
rimmed in on every side but the north, and while it does not differ 
widely in its topographical featur-es from the valley counties further 
north, it has a hydrography essentially unlike these — all the streams 
flowing into Tulare lake, the common receptacle for the drainage of the 
county. Several of these streams are of large size — King's, the Kah- 
weah, Tule, and Kern rivers, discharging, particularly in the summer, 
when the snow melts on the Sierra, immense volumes of water. That 
these streams, pouring into this lake such a constant tide, should not 



COUNTIES OF CALIPOKNIA. 327 

speedily so raise it as to inundate tlie adjacent cotmtry, lias led to the 
suggestion that there may be a subterranean passage connecting it with 
the ocean through which a portion of these waters make their escape. 
The great expanse, however, of this lake — thirty-three miles long and 
twenty-two wide, and the broad area of the tule lands bordering it, 
which, with a slight rise above its ordinary level, are converted into 
immense lagoons, would seem to afford sufficient space for these waters 
to spread out until their volume can be reduced by evaporation — a pro- 
cess that goes on very rapidly in the hot and desiccated atmosphere 
that always prevails throughout this region in the summer. 

AE the streams mentioned, heading in the Sierra, flow through deep 
and precipitous caiions until they reach the plains, when they meander 
through their broad and fertile bottoms — some of them separating into 
several channels, forming wooded islands, after the manner described 
in the case of King's river. The Kahweah is thus divided up into eight 
or ten branches — though, when first discovered, under the supposition 
that there were only four of these channels, the name " Four creeks " 
was given to them collectively — a term which they have in that sense 
ever since retained, though each has now an individual name of its own. 
By the same appellation the country adjacent to these creeks has also 
come to be known. 

The most of these bottoms, as well as portions of the plains lying 
between them, are covered with scattered oak trees of large size, and 
which, though they are not worth much for making lumber, are ser- 
vicable for fencing, and supply an abundance of good fuel. All that 
part of the county lying west and southwest of the lake is destitute of 
timber, though the entire slope of the Sierra Nevada is covered with 
majestic forests of coniferous trees, even to its very summit. 

About forty-six miles northeast of Visalia, and at an elevation of 
between six thousand and seven thousand feet, occur great numbers of 
"Big Trees," not standing in groups and isolated groves, as in Cala- 
veras and Mariposa counties, but scattered throughout the forests all 
the way from King's river to the Kahweah, a distance of over forty miles, 
and perhaps much further, the area over which they extend not having 
been fully ascertained. From measurements made by the members of 
the State Geological Survey, who visited this forest, the largest tree 
standing, so far as they had opportimity to observe, was one hundred 
and six feet in circumference at the base, and two hundred and seventy- 
six feet high. It had, however, been partially burnt away, and was 
judged to have originally had a girth of between one hundred and fifteen 
and one hundred and twenty feet. The body of a prostrate tree has 



328 THE NATUKAL WE.iLTII OF CALIFORXLV. 

been burnt out to such an extent that it admits of a man riding into 
the hollow trunk for a distance of seventy-six feet, where he has room 
to turn his animal without difficulty. At a distance of one hundred 
and twenty feet from the butt, this tree is thirteen feet in diameter 
inside the bark. There is a large number of these trees in this neigh- 
borhood, many being, to all appearance, nearly as large as the one just 
described, while those varying from ten to fifteen feet in diameter are 
quite common. 

"Withiu the limits of this county, or standing on the line between it 
and Inyo, are some of the highest and wildest peaks in the Sierra Ne- 
vada. Here are the Dome mountains, 9,825 feet high, remarkable for 
the regularity of their outline ; Mt. Williamson, still more striking and 
lofty; Mt. Kahweah, 14, 000 feet high ; Mt. Tyndall, 14,386 feet high; 
and, finally, Mt. Whitney, 15,000 feet above the level of the sea — the 
highest peak in this range, and, probably, the most elevated land on 
the continent of North America. 

The population of Tulare is estimated at about six thousand, the 
greater portion of whom are engaged in agricultural pursuits. Visalia, 
the county seat, contains about one thousand inhabitants. It occupies 
a handsome site on one of the branches of the Kahweah river, the land 
being level, fertile, and covered over, for many miles around, with large 
oak trees. It is surrounded with gardens, orchards, vineyards, and 
well cultivated fields, the soil here being well adapted to the production 
of abnost every fruit or plant grown in California, and remarkably pro- 
lific. The means for irrigation, generally necessary where the soil is 
light and sandy, are never failing and ample. On the heavier adobe 
soil crops of gTain can be made, if properly put in, without this aid. 
Visalia contains besides its public schools, a well conducted and flour- 
ishing seminary, a handsome court-house, several halls, churches, and 
other public edifices, many iii-eproof stores, and a large number of 
tasty cottages and mansions, nearly all occupying large lots planted 
with trees, vines, and flowers. Being centrally situated, and the only 
town in the county of any size, it enjoys an active trade, which is every 
year expanding as the country around it fills up with settlers. 

From the assessor's reports for 1866, it appears that the taxable 
property of the county was that year valued at $1,299,379 ; the amount 
of land enclosed was 24,939 acres ; under cultivation, 7,139 acres ; in 
wheat, 3,092 acres, yielding 51,581 bushels ; and 2,400 in barley, which 
yielded 49,642 bushels. Of these grains there were sown the following 
year, 3,448 acres of wheat, and 3,035 of barley. In the year 1866, 
5,945 bushels of Indian corn were raised, 240 of buckwheat, and large 



COUNTIES OF CAirFOKNIA. 329 

quantities of fruits and vegetables ; 7,425 pounds of butter, 4,070 of 
cheese, 156,650 of wool, and 7,500 of honey were produced. The 
county contained 7,694 horses, 287 mules, 70,152 sheep, 166 goats, 
8,802 hogs, and 31,597 head of neat cattle. 

This is an excellent section of country for sheep, swine and cattle 
raising. Owing to the heat of the climate in the summer, remoteness 
from market, etc., dairying is not extensively carried on — the most of 
the cattle raised being intended for the shambles. Wool growing, 
however, is increasing rapidly ; while it is doubtful if swine can be 
raised and fattened in any other part of the State with the same facility 
as here. These animals being marked with the owner's brand, after the 
manner of sheep and cattle, are suffered to run at large in the tule 
swamps, where they not only grow, but soon become extremely fat, 
feeding on the roots of these plants and on fresh water mussels found in 
great quantities about the margin of the lake. Swine thus left, being 
thereafter little cared for, and rarely seeing human beings, soon become 
quite wild, making it necessary for the owner to shoot them when he 
wishes to secure the carcass. Cattle thrive in this region the year 
round without housing or fodder, being rarely ever pinched by hunger 
or suffering from cold. 

Tulare contains two grist mills, carrying each two run of stone, and 
having a capacity to grind 130 barrels of flour daily; the one is driven 
by water, and the other by steam — their aggregate cost having been 
about $25,000. The flour ground in 1866 amounted to 10,250 barrels. 
There are three saw mills in the county, carrying five saws, and capable 
of cutting 20, 000 feet of lumber per day. 

The only mining carried on in Tulare consists of operations in 
quartz, the business being mostly confined to the vicinity of White 
river. There are four mills at this place, carrying in all twenty-five 
stamps, and costing in the aggregate $40,000. They have all been 
running with a good average degree of success; the lodes at this place, 
though not large or numerous, being compact, and carrying a good 
body of fair grade ore. 

No water ditches have been constructed in the coimty except such 
as are designed for bringing water upon the land. Of this class, there 
are about fifty, all of limited capacity — the area of land irrig 
amounting to 4,000^cre3. 



CHAPTER lY. 

CLIMATE. 

General Eemarks — Temperature — Extremes of Heat and Cold — ^Winds — The Sea Breeze — 
Northers — Southeasters — Kains — Storms — Cloud and llist — Snow and Hail — Thunder 
► and Lightning — Kelations of Climate to Agriculture and other Pursuits — Health, Do- 
mestic Economy, etc. 

In this outline of tlie climate of California minute details and tlie 
scientific investigation of causes are avoided, and a practical view of the 
subject is presented to the reader, with especial relation to the capaci- 
ties of the country, and the comforts and industries of the people. 

The climate of California is too much varied to be considered as a 
•whole. It might be regarded almost as a heterogeneous mixture of the 
tropical and the arctic. From the Capital city, under the noonday sun 
of the summer solstice, with a temperature of from 90 to 100°, exceeding 
the extreme summer heat of the Atlantic States, you will see the snows 
glistening on the Sierras at no great distance. And by taking the cars 
on the trans-continental railroad, a few hours of travel will transport 
you to an arctic landscape. On the other hand, embarking on the 
steamer for San Francisco, at two o'clock in the afternoon, and travel- 
ling in the opposite direction, before night you are shivering in the cold 
sea breeze which sweeps up the bay. 

It is not necessaiy to journey so far in order to experience the same 
transition. You have only to cross any of the mountain walls which 
separate the ocean and bay from the interior, and which dam out the 
cold ocean atmosphere. 

There are essentially two climates in California, the land climate and 
the sea climate. The latter derives its low temperatvire from the ocean, 
the water of Avhich, along the coast, stands at from 52° to 54°, aU the year 
round. The evenness of the ocean temperatm-e is owing to a steady cur- 
rent from the north, which is accompanied also by winds in the same 
direction during the entire summer season, or rather from April to Octo- 



CLIMATE. 331 

ber inclusive. Almost daily, during tliis period, a deluge of cold, damp 
air, of the same temperature as the ocean over which it has passed, is 
poured upon the land. It is mostly laden with mist, in dense clouds, 
which it deposits at the foot-hills and on the slopes of the highlands, 
or carries a short distance into the interior wherever there is a break 
in the land-wall. 

The land climate is as nearly as possible tli^ opposite in every 
respect. In summer and autumn it is hot and^; It undergoes vari- 

ous modifications from the configuration of^ -; surface of the earth. 
Even the mountains, which retain the snow I .a a late period, present a 
high temperature in the middle of the daj ; and the presence of snow 
on their summits in June is owing to the great mass which has accu- 
mulated on them, rather than to cold weather. 

A large district of territory lies between the jurisdiction of the two 
climates, and subject to their joint influence. It is composed chiefly 
of valleys surrounding the bay of San Francisco, and penetrating into 
the interior in every direction. There is no climate in the world more 
delightful than these valleys enjoy, and no territory more productive. 
"Whilst the ocean prevents the contiguous land from being scorched in 
summer, it also prevents it from being frozen in winter. Hence, ice 
and snow are not common in the ocean climate. The difierence in. tem- 
perature is comparatively slight between summer and winter. 

The cold of winter in the interior is not intense, even on mountain 
elevations, with the exception of the tier of counties in the extreme 
north. Its degree depends much, however, on the altitude of the 
locality. The severity of winter is due, not to extreme cold, in any 
part of California, but to violent and prolonged snow storms in one 
section, and cold and prolonged rains in others. 

It is interesting to cast the eye over the map of the State, and trace 
out climatic modifications as governed by topography. First, look at the 
long range of coast, the slope of which, as far back as the first moun- 
tain wall, is under the control of the ocean, and has the most uniform 
of climates. It is a narrow strip of territory, the only part of the State 
preserved from desiccation in summer by daily showers of mist, and, 
therefore, admirably adapted to dairy purposes. Then survey the 
counties bordering on the great bay — Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Con- 
tra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara and San Mateo, borrowing one half 
their climate from the ocean and the other half from the interior; inex- 
haustible in agricidtural resources, and forming the granary of the 
Pacific. The Pajaro and some other valleys farther south, to which 
the sea winds gain access, belong to the same system ; and those also 



332 THE NATURAL WEALTH OP CALEFOKXLi. 

of the Sacramento and San Joaqnin, although in a lesser degree, being 
farther removed from the ocean. Then regard the mountain region, 
■with its countless little valleys, buried up with snow in winter, bursting 
forth into a paradise with the spring, and converted into furnaces by 
the summer's sun, and yet luxuriant with all kinds of delicious fruits. 
In this section are concentrated the mining interests. Finally, view 
the southern section^ embracing one fourth of the State, removed alike 
from both extremes which operate in the north, controlled neither by 
mountain nor ocean, and anjoying the most genial temperature — a sec- 
tion of country wanting's^y in the certainty of winter rains to make it 
an Eden. ">■ 

After these general remarks, let us proceed to a more definite view of 
the subject, taking the climate of San Francisco as a stand-point and 
basis of comparison. This is proper, not only because the metropolis 
is the center of population, containing one fourth the inhabitants of the 
State, but because its climate is a type of that of the coast and bay 
regions. We will first consider the temperature. 

TEMPEEATUBE— EXTEEMES OE HEAT AXD COLD. 

The record of the climate of San Francisco, as kept by Dr. Henry 
Gibbons, extending from the autumn of 1850 to January, 1868, a period 
of seventeen years, shows the coldest weather during that time to have 
occurred in January, 1854, when the mercury fell as low as 25°. The 
coldest noonday for the same period was 37°. Persons who do not rise 
early may see no ice in that city for several years in succession. AVhen 
it is cold enough to preserve ice in the shade all day the circumstance 
is noted as a phenomenon. It is not ujicommon for the entire winter 
to pass away without bringing the thermometer down so low as the point 
of freezing. In the year 1853 it fell at no time lower than 40° or eight 
degrees above the freezing point. 

The extreme of heat in the same period occurred on September 10th 
and 11th, 1852, when the thermometer reached 97° and 98° on the two 
days respectively. This, however, was entirely exceptional, and might 
not again occur in half a century. The air was dry as a sirocco, and had 
a curious effect on the wood-work of houses, causing a constant crackling 
noise, from the shrinking of the timber, and the plaster breaking on 
the wooden partitions. In a locality somewhat exposed to reflected 
heat from the sun, and where the temperature was 100° a thermometer 
with a wet bulb fell to 68° — the evaporation reducing it thirty-two 
degrees. 



CLIMATE. 333 

"Witli the exception just noted, the hottest clay in the seventeen years 
was on the 6th of July, 1867, when the thermometer stood at 93°. In 
October, 1864, and in September, 1865, it reached 91° ; and in July, 
1855, it rose once to 90°. Thus, it appears there were but six days in 
seventeen years when the temperature was as high as 90°, and only two 
of these six days were iu the summer months. 

The absence of warm weather in the summer months is character- 
istic of the coast climate and strikes a stranger forcibly. The most 
ordinary programme of this climate for the year is as follows, beginning 
with the rainy season : The first decided rains are in November or 
December, when the country, after having been parched vdth drought, 
puts on the garb of spring. In January the rains abate and vegetation 
advances slowly, with occasional slight frosts. February is spring-like, 
with but little rain. March and April are pleasant and showery, with 
an occasional hot day. In May the sea breeze begins, but does not 
give much annoyance. In June, just as warm weather is about to set 
in, the sea breeze comes daily, and keeps down the temperature. It 
continues through July and August, occasionally holding up for a day 
or two, and permitting the sun to heat the air to the sweating point. 
In September the sea wind moderates and there is a slight taste of sum- 
mer, which is prolonged into the next month. The pleasant weather 
often lingers in the lap of winter, and is interrupted only by the rains 
of November or December. 

By running the eye over the following table, a general idea can be 
gained of the coast climate as regards temperature. The first column 
represents the average temperature of each month at sunrise, for seven- 
teen years; the second, at noon ; and the third, is the mean of the 
otlier two. 



Months. 


MeanatStmrise. 


Mean at Noon. 


MontUy Mean. 




d. 

47. 

48. 

49. 

50. 

51. 

52. 

53. 

53.5 

53. 

49. 

45. 

49.5 


5g. 

60. 

63. 

65. 

64. 

68. 

67. 

67. 

69.5 

68. 

62. 

55. 

63.7 


58. 




53.5 




55.5 




57. 




57. 




59.5 


July 


59.5 




60. 




61. 




60.5 




55.5 




50. 




56.6 







334 THE NATURAL "WEALTH OF CALIEOENU. 

Observe, in tlie table, the regular increase from January to Septem- 
ber, and the rapid decrease from October to December ; nine months of 
increase and two of decrease. Notice, also, the uniform increase of the 
night temperature as represented in the first column, and the irregu- 
larity in the noonday increase, the sea breeze arresting it in May, and 
the sun giving it an upward impulse in June, before the sea -wind has 
gained undisputed control. 

Whilst the summer months are warmest in the interior, as in most 
countries, a very different an-angement exists in the coast climate. 
This is because the sun has entire control inland, within its mountain 
intrenchments, and the ocean almost entire control of the coast slope 
outside of those intrenchments. The two forces act inversely ; that is 
to say, the more powerful the sim's heat in the interior, the more pow- 
erful is the pressure and force of the cold ocean atmosphere without. 
The heating power of the sun in the interior begins to decline after 
midsummer, and the temperature then begins to faU. But this lessens 
the draught from outside and gives the sun greater calorific power over 
the exterior atmosphere. Accordingly, with the diminution of the 
force of the sea breeze in September, comes a slight touch of summer 
along the coast. The sun, not having receded far from the tropic of 
Cancer, avails itself of every opportunity to warm up the coast, and 
gains a temporary triumph over the ocean in September, or sometimes 
not till October. Hence, as the table shows, September is the warmest 
month in the year, and October next ; then comes August ; July, the 
hottest month almost everj\vhere else, is the fourth here, or ranks as 
such in connection with June ; next come April and May ; then March 
and November; then February, and finally January and December, the 
only winter months. 

The mean annual temperature at San Francisco is 56.6, which may 
be set down as the mean of the coast and bay climate. As we recede 
from the ocean, the days are warmer and the nights colder, the sun 
being the great disturber of temperature, and the ocean the gTcat 
equalizer. But the increase of the day corresponds so nearly with the 
diminution of the night temperatui'e, that the mean varies but little 
within the range of the sea breeze. 

"Washington and Eichmond, nearly in the same latitude as San Fran- 
cisco, have a mean of 54 or 54i, two degrees colder than the latter. This 
appears, at first sight, to be a small difference ; but its value is made 
evident by reflecting that it is a difference for every day in the year — 
each day of the year in San Francisco, from January to December, hav- 
ing an average of two degi-ees higher than the corresponding day on 



CLIMATE. 



335 



the Atlantic border. Cold as our summers are in proportion to those 
in tlie East, it appears that the winters are warmer, in still greater 
jproportion. 

In the Atlantic States the mean annual temperature diminishes in 
going northward about one degree for every degree of latitude. This 
is the general rule in all climates. But the climate of California pre- 
sents an extraordinary anomaly in this respect. Along the coast, from 
the mouth of the Columbia river to Monterey, a range of nine degrees 
of latitude, the mean temperature varies but little— not more than three 
or four degrees at most ; and even this difference does not correspond 
exactly with the difference of latitude. On the other hand, the inte- 
rior climate varies indefinitely, every valley having a climate of its 
own. The summers, however, are generally hotter in the north. One 
might start from Los Angeles, near the south line of the State, in 
summer, and travel northward, inland, five or six hundred miles, and 
find it growing hotter every day ; and he might go in a southeasterly 
course less than half that distance, and arriving at Fort Yuma, on the 
Colorado, he would find one of the hottest places in the world. 

The sudden fluctuations of temperature, incident to the climate of 
the Atlantic States, are unknown in California. We have none of those 
angry outbreaks from the northwest, which change summer to winter in 
a few hours. The sea breeze is chilling enough, especially when it 
comes in suddenly to reassert its sway, after one of the occasional 
warm days of summer ; but the sea breeze can never bring the ther- 
mometer below 52°. 

In the summer months there is scarcely any fall of temperature 
through the night in the coast climate. The early morning is some- 
times clear, sometimes cloudy, but always calm. A windy morning in 
summer is uncommon at San Francisco. A few hours after sunrise the 
clouds break away and vanish, and the sun shines forth cheerfully and 
delightfully; not a breath of air is stirring. -Towards noon, or a little 
after, the sea breeze sets in, and the weather is completely changed. 
From 65° the mercury drops to 53° or 54° long before sunset, and at 
that point it remains almost motionless till the next morning. This 
is the order of things in three days out of four in June, July and 
August. 

In the climate of the coast the nights are never uncomfortably 
warm. The extreme heat at 10 p. M. at San Francisco, for seventeen 
years, was 76°. The thermometer reached this point on three different 
nights ; on two nights it reach 75°, on four nights 78°, on two nights 
72°, and on five nights 70°— making only sixteen evenings in seventeen 



336 



THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CiLIFORNLi. 



years when it was warm enougli at bed-time to sit out of doors with 
thin clothing. The warmest morning in seventeen years was 69°. These 
facts have special interest in relation to sleep. 

Though the nights in the interior are not so uniformly cool, j'et 
there are few localities, even in the valleys, where they are too warm 
for sleeping, even though the day temperature may have reached 100°. 
This is a remarkable feature of the climate of the Pacific States, and it 
has an important bearing on the health, vigor, and character of the 
population. 

In the southeastern corner of the State is a section having a climate 
of its own. It is kno^vn as the Colorado desert, and is comparatively 
barren of vegetation, owing to the small quantity of rain which falls 
there. The mean temperature at Fort Yuma, though not exactly in the 
desert, is, in the month of July, upwards of 100° at noon, and 90° at 
9 p. M. In contrast with this, is the winter climate of Yreka, near the 
extreme northwest corner of the State, and representing a small alpine 
section bordering on Oregon. During the stormy weather of January, 
1868, when the thermometer at Marysville and other localities in the 
north was telegraphed as ranging from 25° to 35°, at 8 a. m., the dis- 
patches from Treka placed it below zero day after day, and sometimes 
10° or 12° below. 

We will conclude the subject of temperature with a table, represent- 
ing the mean of the several seasons at a number of prominent points in 
California, and also farther northward. The first column gives the 
temperature of the spring months, March, April and May; and so on, 
the other seasons are arranged. The last column is the mean annual 
temperature. 



Localities. 


Spring. 


Summer. 


Autumn. 


Winter. 


Tear. 




50. 5 
56.0 
56. 5 
5i.O 
60.0 
72.0 
52.0 
52.0 
53.0 
51.0 
40.0 


o 

60.0 
69.5 
67.0 
59.0 
71.0 
90.0 

eo'.o 

70.5 
61.5 
63.0 


s'o.o 

61.0 
60.5 
57.0 
6i.5 
75.5 
53.0 
55.0 
52.0 
54.0 
51.5 


o 

51.0 
46.5 
49.0 
51.0 
52.5 
57.0 
43.5 
47.5 
35.5 
42.5 
39.5 


5^6 




58.0 




58.0 




55.5 




62.0 




73.5 




51.5 




53.5 




53.0 




52.0 


Fort Steilacoom, Washington Ter. . 


51.0 



There is this difference between the summer in the interior of Cali- 
fornia and the Atlantic States — that in the former, it is unbroken by 

* The figures for these localities are probably too low. 



CLISIATE. 337 

the shoAvers and storms -wMcla in other regions temper the heat and 
give variety to the climate. From the beginning of June nntil Novem- 
ber the sky is mostly xmclouded, and the sun shines out brightly the 
whole day. 

WINDS : THE SEA BBEEZE-NOETHEES-SOUTHEASTEKS. 

Throughout the entire year, -with the exception of the two months, 
December and January, the prevailing winds of the coast climate are 
from the west. Even in those two months, the west wind is often pre- 
dominant. In the winter and spring it is frequently accompanied with 
showers, but never in the summer and autumn. The true "sea breeze,'' 
the great refrigerator of this coast, is free from rain. It is commonly 
free from mist tiU June or Jntj. It begins in February, and for 
about one half of that month comes in gently towards sunset. In 
March and April it is more frequent and sometimes strong. Its fre- 
quency and force increase in May, and in June it is turbulent and sel- 
dom absent. In July it reaches its acme of force. In August it is con- 
stant, but not quite so violent. In September it is also constant, but 
much diminished in force. In October it is lighter, and interrupted. 
In November it is irregular, and it disappears as December ap- 
proaches. 

It might be said that there are no east winds in California. The 
lofty mountain ranges to the eastward prevent any general current from 
that quarter. "While the duration of the west wind, coming from one 
eighth of the compass, is upwards of two hundred days in the year at 
San Francisco, that from the east octant is not over two days. The 
remaining portion of the year is divided between dry northerly and 
damp, cloud-bearing southerly wiads. Thus, the winds of California 
appear to belong to three systems : 

1. The sea breeze, dependant on inland heat and ocean cold. 
Though loaded -with vapor, it mixes with the warm, dry air of the land, 
and can produce no rain — the land air drinking up its moisture. 

2. The land winds, from the north, which sweep through the en- 
tire State in the winter, and are confined to the interior in summer. 
They are cold in winter and hot in summer, but always dry. Occasion- 
ally they come like a sirocco and burn up vegetation. Fruit is some- 
times roasted on the trees by the combined influence of the sun and 
wind. Along the coast the north wind is modified materially by ming- 
ling with the ocean air. 

22 



338 THE NATURAL WEiiLTH OF CAIIFOEXU. 

3. The soTitli wincls, wliich are warm, and come from the ocean 
loaded with moisture. They belong to the climate of winter and 
spring. Coming along the coast line, their direction is modified by the 
mountain ranges, and they become southeast winds; or by the pressure 
of the ocean air, making them southwest winds. Mixing with the colder 
atmosphere as they travel northward, cloud and rain are the result. 
They are the storm winds of winter, often doing much damage to ship- 
ping in the harbor, and prostrating trees in great numbers in the 
mountains. 

The sea breeze, besides controlling the climate of the coast and bay 
region during nearly the whole year, modifies very much the summer 
climate of the interior. Wherever there is a depression in the high- 
lands of the coast, it pours in and spreads itself over the heated earth. 
At the Golden Gate it has a fair sweep, and enters with great force, 
striking the opposite shore of Alameda county, where its further pro- 
gress is interrupted by the hills. It is then deflected northward and 
southward, and following the course of the hay, at San Jose becomes 
a northwest, and at Benicia a southwest wind. It continues its course, 
spreading like a fan into all the valleys that open towards the bay. At 
points most remote from the inlet, it arrives late in the day. Chilling 
and unwelcome as it is to the inhabitants of the metropolis, its after- 
noon visit is hailed as a blessing by those suffering from the swel- 
tering heat of the interior. "Within the range of the sea breeze the 
trees indicate its course, by leaning in the direction towards which it 
blows. Around the bay, where the winds are strong, the trees some- 
times lean so as to rest their branches on the groiind; or the branches 
;grow out only on the lee side, giving the tree the appearance of having 
been cut down through the center — the windward half being removed. 
Far inland, on the Sacramento river for instance, where the current of 
.air is always gentle, the trunks of the trees incline slightly to the north. 
In such localities the tree is bent, not by the violence of the wind, but 
by its constancy, the young branches being always pressed in the one 
>direction during the growing season. 

The sea breeze, though often very strong, is never violent enough 
to do any serious damage ; its force is limited. The norther, which is 
most apt to occur as a prelude to winter, is not sufficiently strong to do 
much mischief on land, though from its direction, sweeping the harbor, 
Its effect upon the shipping is sometimes disastrous. If the sea 
breeze had the same direction, the harbor could scarcely be used in the 
summer months. The storm-wind of winter, varying from southeast to 
southwest, is often more violent than either ; it is the only wind that 



CLUIATE. ■ 339 

ever unroofs buildings in tile city, a result tliat may happen once in ten 
or fifteen years. 

Each of these -n-inds has its time of day, so to speak. The sea 
breeze is invariably at its height at 2 or 3 p. m. ; it subsides by sunset 
or sooner. The southerly storm-wind is apt to rise in the evening and 
reach its height about 2 or 3 a. m. ; it is not, however, very regular in 
its habits. The norther springs up in the night, is generally at its 
height early in the morning, and subsides about noon. 

Apart from the sea breeze, there is much less wind in California 
than in the Atlantic States. At San Francisco, and in the ocean climate 
generally, the wind is not high on more than three or four days in the 
five months from October to February, the calmest months in the year 
being November, December and January. 

EAIN, STOEM, CLOUD AJSTD MIST. 

Mining and agriculture, the leading interests of California, are inti- 
mately connected with the distribution of rain. Drought on the one 
hand and flood on the other, are the terrors of a large portion of the 
people. For these and other reasons, it is proper to dwell at somo 
length on the subject of rain. 

In the entire absence of rain during one portion of the year, and its 
restriction to another portion, California has but one climate. There 
is this difference, however, between one part and another, that the rain 
commences sooner and continues later in the north, and that both the 
quantity of rain and the duration of the rainy season diminish on 
approaching the southern part of the State, or rather on receding from 
the mountainous section. 

The rain-year of California does not conform to the calendar year, 
but extends from summer to summer, embracing the latter part of one 
year and the former part of the year ensuing. The natural division is 
in July or August — say the first of August. The calendar year fails to 
represent properly either a dry winter or a rainy one. Thus, the smallest 
quantity of rain in any one of the seventeen calendar years- was 10.50 
inches, in 1865, while the climatic year 1850-51 had but 7.12 inches, 
and 1863-64, 8.49 inches. On the other hand, the calendar year 1865 
had but 10. 50 inches, or half the avei-age supply, from which it would 
be inferred that one at least of the two seasons in which it enters was 
dry. "Whereas, by reference to the table, it appears that both of those 
seasons had the full supply, being a fraction over twenty-one inches. 
It so transpired that the rain of one season was mainly in the latter jjart 



349 



THE NATUEjVL "WEALTH OF CALIFORNI.V. 



of 1864, and that of the latter season in the early part of 1866, leaving 
the intervening calendar year deficient. 

In seasons of scanty rains, the deficiency is not confined to certain 
districts, as in the Atlantic States, but it is general. The annual sup- 
ply, however, varies greatly in difi'erent sections. Taking the guage at 
San Francisco as a basis, very nearly the same quantity falls in the 
valleys sui-rounding the bay, and also in the Sacramento valley as far 
north as the Capital. Speaking more precisely, the quantity in Sonoma 
and Napa counties is rather greater, and in Santa Clara, south of the 
bay, rather less than at San Francisco. Proceeding southward it 
diminishes rapidly, the rain fall at Los Angelas and San Diego being 
only one half that of the bay. In the north and northeast, among the 
Sierras, it is three or four times as much in some localities. 

The following table exhibits the rains of each month at San 
Francisco, for seventeen years, beginning with the winter of 1850-51, 
and the mean for each month of the year : 



Year. 


Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apl. 


May. 


June 


July 


Aug. 


Sept 


Oct. 


Not. 


Dec. 


1850 






















1.25 
2.14 
5.31 
1.43 

.40 
1.15 
2.90 
3.01 

.48 
5.43 

.22 
3.78 

.14 
2.50 
7.62 
3.06 
2.64 
3.10 


1.15 


1851 


.65 
.58 
4.11 
4.27 
4.52 
8.44 
2.07 
4.38 
1.00 
1.13 
1.2i 

18.14 
3.29 
1.31 
3.97 

11.05 
6.64 


.35 

.12 
1.16 
8.41 
4.64 

.43 
8.6G 
1.32 
5.2-2 
1.36 
2.83 
6.11 
3.2(; 

.00 

.78 
1.47 
6.22 

3.0S 


1.88 
6.40 
4.81 
3.17 
4.31 
1.64 
1.56 
3.94 
2.51 
3.0G 
3.40 
1.6G 
2.42 
3.39 
.60 
2.55 
1.68 

2.76 


1.14 

.19 

5.05 

3.31 

5.59 

3.14 

.00 

1.14 

.33 

1.72 

.20 

1.11 

2.95 

.93 

.73 

.r; 

1.85 
1.74 


.69 
.30 
.32 
.02 
2.14 
.88 






.OL 


1.00 


.1^ 

.80 

.10 

2.12 


7.07 


1852 


11.90 


1853. 










2.05 


1854. 


.04 








.38 


1855 








5.45 


1856 








.OS 


.50 

.93 

3.3i 


4.ro 


1857 


•OJ 
.11 
2.02 
2.56 
.66 
.91 
.41 

.5-: 

.42 
1.85 
.04 

.82 


.10 

.10 




".04 


4.14 


1858 


4.77 


1859 


1.51 


1860 


' '.ie 

.25 


.33 




.02 


.96 


4.79 


1861 


6.10 


1862 




.02 
.17 


".15 
.02 
.25 

".06 

.09 


' ' '.02 
.14 

' ' '.50 

.57 


2.73 


1863. 


1.73 


1864 


6.97 


1865 


".is 




.55 


1866 


13.15 


1867 


12.85 




.05 


.Ol 


.01 




Mean. .... 


4.51 


2.74 


5.37 



The greatest quantity of rain for any one month, as the table shows, 
was 18. 14 inches, in January, 1862 — a winter memorable on account of 
destructive floods on the Pacific slope. The greatest quantity in any 
one month in Eastern Pennsylvania, during a period of thirty j-ears, 
Tvas thirteen inches; and this was in one of the summer months. So 
much as this never falls in a winter month in the Atlantic States. For 
one season of excessive drought there have been two of excessive rain. 
No two seasons in succession have given as much rain as 1866-67, and 
1867-68. 



CLIMATE. . 341 

Tlie rains of each season are exhibited in the following table, in 
juxtaposition with the rains of each year : 



Season. 


Eain. 


Tear. 


Ealn. 


1850-51 


7.12 
18.00 
33.46 
22.80 
24. 10 
21.13 
19.95 
19.03 
19.76 
17.10 
14.54 
38.04 
15.19 

8.49 
21.30 
21.19 
32.22 

20.79 


1851 


15.12 


1851 52 


1852 


25.60 


1852 53 


1853 


19.03 


1853 54 


1854 


22. 12 


1851 55 


1855 


27.80 


1855 56 


1856 


2''. 01 


1856 57 


1857 


20.55 


185/ 58 


1853 


19. G4 


1858 59 


18.59 


18.03 


1859-60 


1860 


16.15 


I860 61 


1861 


18.43 


1861 62 


1862 


31.05 


1862 63 


1803 


10.63 


1803 64 


1864 


18.95 


1864-65 


1865 


10.50 


1865 66 


1866 


32.98 


1866-67 


1867 


33.00 






21.62 









It appears that December is the month of greatest rain. The rainy 
tendency reaches its climax about Christmas, and then diminishes 
gradually until the termination of the season of rain, towards the lat- 
ter end of May. June, July, August and September are dry, with 
exceptions so slight as scarcely to deserve notice, only 2. 50 inches hav- 
ing fallen in these four months collectively in seventeen years. 

In almost every winter there are two rainy periods, with a drier 
period interposed, showing an analogy to the earlier and later rains of 
Palestine and other oriental countries. The month of February is the 
most frequent representative of the dry period. But the spring rains, 
which sometimes compience in this month, and other heavy rains which 
occasionally fall, swell the aggregate so as to prevent the exhibition of 
a deficiency in the table. 

In speaking of the "rainy season," strangers will not infer that 
rain is perpetual, or nearly so, during that time. The term is employed 
only in contrast with the dry season, and it implies the possibility 
rather than the actual occurrence of rain. In more than half the win- 
ters there is not a drop beyond the necessities of agriculture, and even 
in the seasons of most rain much very pleasant weather is interspersed. 
If the winter be not extraordinary, it is generally regarded as the most 
pleasant season of the year. In the intervals of rain it is bright, sunny 
and calm. It is spring rather than winter. The grass starts as soon as 
the soil is wet. At Christmas, nature wears her green uniform almost 



342 THE NATTJEAl WEALTH OF CAXIFORNIA. 

througliout the entire State, and in February and Marcli it is set witli 
floral jewels. The blossoms increase in variety and profusion until 
April, w'lien tliey are so abundant in many places as to sliow distinctly 
tlie yellow carpeting on hills five miles distant. 

There is great irregularity in the time of the commencement of the 
rainy season. It never sets in before November, and sometimes not till 
the latter part of December. In the northern section the rains com- 
mence earlier than at San Francisco, and in the southern section later. 
The spring rains, which are of immense importance to agriculture, 
rarely fail. March is one of the surest months in this respect. April 
often gives a copious supply. There is a remarkable tendency to rain 
about the 20th of May, and a complete cessation soon afterwards. It 
is a striking feature of the climate, that when the weather puts on its 
rainy habit, the rain is apt to continue every day for one or two weeks, 
and then an interval may ensue without a drop for several weeks. 

The rains of California are tropical in one respect, being showery, 
and not often regularly continuous for many hours. The monotony of 
an easterly storm, such as the Atlantic climate furnishes, is almost 
unknown here. The sun . breaks forth frequently in the midst of a 
shower, and directly the sky is almost clear. Presently, when it is least 
expected, the rain is heard on the roof with the suddenness of a shower- 
bath. 

The night is more favorable to rain than the day. No matter how 
dense the clouds, how fair the wind, how resolute the barometer in its 
promise of falling weather, the sun rarely fails to break up the arrange- 
ment before noon, and to tumble the clouds into confused masses, or 
dissipate them altogether. But before night, or during the night, the 
clouds resume their function. 

The prevailing direction of the cloud-current is from south to west, 
and the cloud supplying the rain is mostly of the cumido-stratus or 
nimbus form, and quite low in the sky. What is singular, the rain 
begins most frequently to the northward, although the cloud comes 
from the south. The horizon in the south may be entirely clear under 
these circumstances, the cloud forming in view, and growing denser 
and denser in its northward travel, until it precipitates the rain. 

The following table exhibits the mean quantity of rain falling at 
different stations, and the number of years on which the mean is com- 
puted. The stations are arranged in the order of their latitude, begin- 
ning with Fort Tuma and San Diego, which are about on the same 
parallel: 



343 



Fort Yuma 

San Diego 

Monterey 

Stockton . 

San Francisco 

Benieia 

Sacramento 

PlacerriUe 

Placerville 

South Yuba 

Soutli Y'uba 

Bed Dopr, Nevada County 

Fort Jones 

Hoopa VaUey, Klamatli Co 

Port Orford 

Astoria, Oregon 

Dalles, Oregon 

Fort Steilacoom, WasMngton Ter, 



Four years 

Three years 

Four years 

Four years 

Seventeen years 

Eight years 

Twelve years 

1861-62 

1862-63 

1861-62 

1866-67 

Three years 

Three years 

1861-G2 

Four years 

One and a half years . 

Two years 

Five years 



3.24 
10.43 
12.20 
15.10 
20.79 
22.86 
18.23 
86.00 
26.00 

109.00 
81.56 
64.00 
16.77 

129.15 
71.63 
86.35 
14.32 
01.75 



A comparisou with the Atlantic slope presents a striking contrast. 
The smallest amount of rain that falls in one year, in any locality on the 
eastern side, say twenty inches, is at least equal to the average annual 
supply in the great grain-growing valleys of California; whilst, on the 
other hand, no locality on the eastern side, until you reach the tropical 
latitude of Florida, approaches the maximum of the Pacific slope. 
Thus, California, with a range of ten degrees of latitude, has a mini- 
mum of three and one-quarter inches at Fort Yuma, with a maximum 
exceeding one hundred inches on the Sierras; whilst the Atlantic slope, 
with upwards of twenty degrees of latitude, and an expanse of territory 
vastly greater, with mountainous elevations of considerable height, pre- 
sents a minimum of twenty inches with the same maximum as Cali- 
fornia. 

To make the contrast more striking, it may be added that the annual 
supply of rain has a greater range in California, in a distance of fifty 
miles from Sacramento City, than on the Atlantic slope, from Maine to 
Florida. Two or three times as much rain may fall in a single night in 
the mountains of California, as in the entire year in the southeastern 
corner of the State. 

The enormous quantity of one hundred and twenty-nine inches, at 
Hoopa valley, is stated on the authority of Dr. Kirkpatrick, of the 
United States Army. In general, such extreme results are to be accept- 
ed with caution. The gauge may not have been fairly exposed — or it 
may have been wrongly graduated. But Dr. Kirkpatrick gives, in 
detail, the supply for each of three months, which seems to confirm his 
repoi't : November, M.IO inches; December, 23.79 inches; January, 



344 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

30.95 inclies. An observer on tlie South Tuba, Nevada county, reports 
41. 95 inches as falling there in the month of December, 1867. Instead 
of being surprised at the floods in the Sacramento valley, Ave may won- 
der -what becomes of so much water. 

It is worthy of note, that Hoopa valley is but about forty miles west 
of Fort Jones, where the annual supply is set down as 16. 77 inches. 
Both places are on the northern border of the State, among the coast 
mountains, and remote from the ocean. 

SNOW AND HAIL— LIGHTNING AND THUNDEK— AUBOEA BOEEALIS. 

There are no snow storms worthy of the name ia the bay region, or 
ra the great valleys of the State. Hail falls frequently in some seasons, 
miagled with rain showers — that is to say, it falls three or four times 
during the winter, in which case the winter is pronounced a hard one. 
Three or four times in eighteen years there has been enough to cover 
the ground, so that in favorable spots it would remain an hour or two. 
Once or twice in the same period the southern and middle sections of 
the State have been covered with snow. On the 29th of December, 
1856, it snowed very fast for several hours, and two or three inches col- 
lected on the ground at San Francisco. It melted, however, before 
night. On the hills surrounding the bay it remained nearly a week. 
Early on the morning of the 12th of January, 1868, it snowed very fast 
for an hour or two, so that two inches collected. But it disappeared 
before sunrise, and was therefore invisible to the citizens generally. . 

The winter seldom passes without exhibiting the summits of Monte 
Diablo and the Coast Eange, as seen from the metropolis, covered 
with snow. In the most severe winters it may remain there two or 
three weeks at a time, but this seldom happens. When it raias at San 
Francisco with the temperature below 50°, it snows generally on those 
mountaius. 

But, in this region of contrasts, while snow is a phenomenon in the 
central valleys, it accumulates in enormous quantities in the mountain- 
ous counties of the north and east. The stories that are told of its 
depth in some localities are almost incredible — not on the Alpine 
heights, in the region of perpetual snow, for there is perpetual snow 
only in a few places in California — but in mining regions and moimtain 
valleys, inhabited by a dense population, and producing a luxuriant 
growth of vegetation in the summer. We have been assured that forty 
feet accumulated in one locality, in the winter of 1866-7, as measured 
on the trunks of trees. When we reflect that one inch of rain is equiva- 



CLIMATE. 345 

lent to nine inches of light snow, or six of packed snow, and that forty 
inches of rain are recorded as having fallen in a month, we can perceive 
where so much snow might come from. It is stated that sixty inches of 
water fell during the winter of 1867-8, on the South Yuba, prior to the 
1st of January. In the form of snow, counting six inches for one, this 
would have measured thirty-six feet. 

While the absence of frost and snow ia the agricultural regions 
favors the culture of the soil, and enables it to be carried on without 
interruption, except from deficiency or excess of rain, the accumulation 
of snow on the mountains is equally favorable to mining purposes, 
furnishing a copious supply of water far into the dry season. In May 
and June, when the great valleys are beginning to feel the parchiag 
effects of an unclouded sun, the rivers which traverse them bring 
down an annual freshet of ice water as the proceeds of the wintry 
deposit. 

The comparative absence of thunder and lightning may be deemed 
a remarkable phenomenon of the climate of California. Three or four 
times in the course of the rainy season an occasional flash of lightning 
or peal of thunder may accompany the raias. But persons within doors 
may pass the whole year, or even several years, without noticing either. 
A regular thunder gust, such as marks the Atlantic climate and breaks 
the monotony of solar rule, is aMost xmheard of in California, unless 
it be in the extreme north, bordering on Oregon. Two thunder gusts 
are on record in San Francisco, both occurring in December, in con- 
nection with cold winter rains. Such electrical displays are confined 
mainly to the winter; though, on rare occasions, they take place during 
the summer months, more particidarly in the interior. 

There being so little necessity for lightning rods they are unknown 
in California, but the lightning does sometimes strike, nevertheless. 
In August, 1862, a thunder storm passed over the southern portion of 
Alameda county, attacking the telegraph in its route and shivering two 
or three of the poles. In December, 1864, the coui't house at Monterey 
was struck by lightning and somewhat damaged. In the mountains 
thunder storms occur occasionally, but seldom even there. 

It is a common remark that the atmosphere of the Pacific coast is 
deficient in electricity, which means simply that the electric eqtiilib- 
rium is not easily disturbed. Those little exhibitions of what might 
be called domestic electricity, which are common in the Atlantic States, 
such as the crackling of clothing and furs, are seldom witnessed here. 
They are rare even in winter, though the air be thoroughly dried by a 
north wind. It is well known that sudden changes of temperature, and 



346 THE NATURAL \VEj\XTH OF CALIFORNU. 

rapid formation of cloud, are favorable to electric disturbances. In 
tlie Bay climate, tlie few bot days that sometimes steal in with a land 
wind during the summer months, are followed by an immense deluge 
of cold, ocean air, which depresses the thermometer from 85° to 55° 
in a few hours, and determines the sudden production of immense vol- 
umes of cloud. But all this is performed without visible electrical 
distm-bance. In the rainy season, clouds are formed above the hori- 
zon, in full view, with great rapidity, giving rise to sudden showers. 
The quickness with which this occurs is surprising. The aurora 
borealis is also rare, having been observed only about six or eight 
times in eighteen years. The extraordinary display of August 28th, 
and September 1st, 1859, appears to have been as brilliant on "the 
Pacific as on the Atlantic coast. 

EELATION OF CLIMATE TO AGBICULTUEE AND OTHEK PUKSUIT8. 

A stranger observing the long dry season of California for the first 
time, would naturally infer that this country is no place for agriculture. 
So firmly were the early American settlers impressed with this belief, 
that they made little effort at tilling the land, even to the extent of 
raising garden vegetables. The pliancy and ingenuity of our people, 
however, soon adapted them to the novel circumstances to which they 
were subjected. That the hills everywhere prodiiced spontaneously 
from year to year a luxuriant crop of oats, and that the valleys, burnt 
up as they were in summer and autumn, were sure to be transformed 
into flower gardens in the spring, convinced them that farming could 
be made profitable as well as mining. While the masses were delving 
in the mountains in pursuit of gold, a few turned their attention to the 
growing of potatoes and vegetables, whereby many of them realized 
fortunes in a few years. 

In the dryest seasons there is rain enough to produce abundant 
crops, if it be properly distributed. No one who has not reflected on 
the subject would think it possible that six inches of rain dui-ing the 
season could suffice. One half this quantity is enough to wet the ground 
for plowing, and the other half to perfect the crop. The dryest season 
since 1848 was that of 1850-51, when a small fraction over seven inches 
fell from summer to summer. And, yet, the potatoes of 1851 were not 
only the best ever raised in the country, but they were of extraordinary 
size. The principal portion of the rain was in March and April; and 
this furnished the opportunity to plant under favorable circumstances. 

The art of farming in California, as governed by the- climate, con- 



CLIMATE. 347 

sists in having tlie soil in good condition and planting the seed -while 
there is moisture enough to start it. After this, rain is not so essential 
in some localities. The old Californians, in their rude system, avoided 
planting till the rains were over. This was to escape the necessity of 
cultivating the crop. They have been Imown to plow up their potatoes 
when rain came after the planting, and to replant; because this was 
cheaper than to keep down the weeds which the rain would start into 
growth. This is not precisely the American method, and yet it is truly 
surprising how perfectly crops of all kinds will mature without a drop 
of rain and without irrigation. 

In Alameda county a small patch of tough, adobe soil, which had 
never been cultivated, was ploughed up for the first time late in May 
and planted with beet seed. The soil was not touched afterwards with 
an implement of any description. The beets grew rapidly without a drop 
of rain, whilst the surface dried too quickly for the weeds to start. 
The average size of the beets at maturity was not much short of ten 
pounds, and many of them were twice that size. Being compressed by 
the solidified soil before they had attained their full growth, the roots 
stretched upwards, and most of them were a foot out of the earth. 

There is no compensation for the absence of rain by dews. As a 
general rule, the atmosphere is too dry to form much dew. Immedi- 
ately on the coast, north of the bay of San Francisco more particularly, 
the mists which are poured in daily from the ocean are equivalent to 
rain, and preserve the annual vegetation in a fresh condition when the 
surface of the earth is parched everywhere else. The finest dairy region 
in the world is here. The valleys surrounding the bay are also cele- 
brated for their dairies. But the ocean slopes of Marin county take the 
lead, and neither the sun of summer nor the frosts of winter smite their 
green pastures with death. 

In the Atlantic States the storms of approaching winter put a stop 
to the labor of the farm, and force both man and beast into winter 
quarters. In California it is just the reverse. The husbandman watches 
the skies with impatient hope, and as soon as the rain of November or 
December has softened the soil, every plough is put in requisition. 
Nothing short of excess or deficiency of rain interferes Avith winter 
farming. The planting season continues late, extending from Novem- 
ber to April, giving an average of nearly six months for ploughing and 
sowing, during which the weather is not likely to interfere with out- 
door work more than in the six spring and summer months of the 
Eastern States. 

Owing to the absence of rain, harvesting is conducted on a plan 



348 THE NATURAX WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

■R'laicli would confuse the ideas of an Atlantic farmer. There are no 
showers or thunder gusts to throw down the gi'ain, or wet the hay, or 
impede the reaper. The hay dries in the swath without turning. The 
gi'ain remains standing in the field awaiting the reaping machine, it 
may be, for a month after it is ready to cut. And so it remains when 
cut, awaiting the thresher. When threshed and sacked, the sacks are 
sometimes piled up in the field a long while before removal. In Sep- 
tember and October the great grain-growing valleys may often be seen 
dotted over with cords of grain in sacks, as seciire from damage by 
weather as if closely housed. 

Owing to the absence of severe frosts, the gardens around San 
Francisco supply fresh vegetables all through the winter. New potatoes 
often make their appearance in March. In May the potatoes are full 
grown, and the largest weigh a pound or more. Though shipped and 
transported hundreds of miles in sacks in the winter season, no one 
thinks of their freezing. Frozen potatoes are unheard of, but a dis- 
tinction is made in wet weather by traders, between wet and dry pota- 
toes, accordingly as they have been exposed or noi 

A peculiar efi'ect of the climate on fruit trees, is their early and pro- 
lific bearing. Apple trees begin to bear when only two or three years 
old, and they also continue to grow. It is still more remarkable, that 
the opposite climates of the coast and the interior produce the same 
results in this respect. One might infer, that the dryness and heat of 
summer would hasten the ripening of fruits, and cause the flowering 
and fruiting season to be short. But the fact is precisely opposite. 
The blossoms, instead of coming forth all at once, continue expanding 
for weeks, and the fruit ripens slowly and by instalments. It follows 
that the market season for any kind of fruit, instead of lasting a few 
weeks, as in the Atlantic States, may continue for months. Cherries, 
for instance, begin to appear about the middle of May, and are on 
hand till the middle or last of July. Hence, an extraordinary variety 
of fruit is in market at the same time. It is probable that no market 
in the world is equal to that of San Francisco in this respect. Thus, 
strawberries, which become abundant in April, are brought to market 
in large quantities for three months, and then disappear, not because 
the production has ceased, but because people have grown tired of 
them, and other fruits have made their appearance. When the winter 
is mild, ripe strawberries may be gathered every month of the year. 
In favorable localities, cherries, peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, 
pears, apples and figs, together with strawberries, raspberries, goose- 



CLISIATE. 349 

berries and currants, may often be gathered at the same time, all ripe 
and in perfect condition. 

For the drying of fruit the climate is admirably adapted, and the 
probability is that immense quantities of dried fruit will be produced 
in California for export. There can be no failure in the process. All 
that is requisite, is to expose the fruit in a suitable place, after proper 
preparation, and leave it there. It needs no covering or care at night, 
as there is not sufficient dew to harm it. 

The perfection and value of fruit are greatly enhanced by the entire 
absence of those species of the curculio, which sting the fruit in the Atlan- 
tic region, and deposit the eggs from which worms are hatched. So 
far not a single worm of this description has been seen in any variety of 
fruit in California — an exemption which is no doubt due to the climate. 

Other contrasts than those described in the foregoing pages result 
from the peculiarities of climate. In traveling through the valleys late 
in summer, or in the autumn, one is painfully impressed with the bar- 
renness of the landscape. Everything is withered and desolate; the 
streams are all dry, and not a patch of verdure is anywhere to be seen. 
A few months later, should the December rains prove copious, the 
streams are full and the whole country is not only verdant, but many 
parts of it are, perhaps, under water ; a most luxuriant vegetation, 
mixed with millions of wild flowers, everywhere greeting the eye as 
the spring advances. 

The aridity of the dry season is a blessing in disguise. What 
appears to the traveler a barren waste, is a pasture field. The dried 
gi-ass is well preserved, after going to seed, and both stalk and seed 
afford nutritious food to sheep and cattle. Here, then, is a storehouse 
for stock, which will endure until the first heavy rain. For this reason 
our agriculturists desire no rain until late in the season, and not then 
unless sufficient should fall to wet the soil for ploughing, or to start a 
fresh growth. Anything short of this only spoils the dry pasture, 
without giving compensation. 

Another point is to be considered : that dry and dreary landscape 
is nature's seed store, where seeds of a hundred species are preserved 
for next year's use. There they repose for months as safe as if packed 
in the drawers of a seedsman. In the spring they wUl germinate by 
myriads. How well these seeds are preserved, is shown by the multi- 
tudes which germinate in a given space. 

And now, what wonder that the hills of California are clothed every 
year with a luxuriant growth of wild oats ? And that "volunteer" crops 
of barley and wheat, yielding twenty bushels to the acre, spring up in 



350 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEXIA. 

the valleys from seed scattered in harvesting ? It is not unusual to 
have two good volunteer crops in succession, in as many years. Gar- 
den vegetables seed themselves in the same way. 

By a curious arrangement, the seeds which are scattered on the 
ground are often secured most effectually. A large portion of the valley 
surface is composed of adobe soil; and as soon as the dry weather 
comes this soil begins to crack in all directions, and when the seed 
ripens and falls, it is preserved, in these natural receptacles, from the 
depredations of birds, squirrels and other animals. 

The preservation of the pasture by drying, and the shortness of 
winter and consequent early production of new pasture, have tempted 
farmers to make little or no provision for their stock, such as is neces- 
sary in the same latitude elsewhere. There is a want in the country of 
barns, and of the means of housing and foddering. When there comes 
a severe winter, with cold rains and a long suspension of the growth of 
pasture, the effects are disastrous. Every such season proves fatal to 
vast numbers of cattle, the mere loss of which should be esteemed of 
less importance tlian the torture inflicted on them by cold and starva- 
tion. The humane farmer should not trust to the chances of a mild 
winter. 

HEALTH, DOMESTIC ECONOJIY, ETC. 

An inhabitant of New England, or Canada, coming to California, 
wears nearly as warm clothing in the month of July in San Francisco 
as he wore in January in his old home. Even then he shivers with the 
sea breeze, and sometimes dons an overcoat before sunset. No one 
thinks of casting off his flannel, or wearing a lighter coat on account 
of the approach of summer. With the ladies, however, the case is dif- 
ferent. The occasional warm mornings of summer allow the exhibi- 
tion of summer fashions, without prohibiting cloaks and furs. At 
night it is otherwise, the temperature requiring the use of blankets. 
Even in the interior, with the thermometer at 100"^ at noonday, blan- 
kets are almost everywhere required before morning. There is no cli- 
mate in the world in which one sleeps so comfortably all the year round; 
and it is questionable if there is any other country in the temperate 
latitudes where people devote so much time to sleep. 

The atmosphere is mostly dry, even during the summer mists ; 
vapor never condensing on the walls, nor indicating its presence within 
doors in any other perceptible manner. 

In its relations to the physical development of animals, including 
man, the climate of California appears to be propitious. Laborers 



CLIMATE. ■ 351 

will toil in the extreme heat, in the interior, and preserve their health 
and vigor in a remarkable degree. This is partly due to the dryness of 
the air, which promotes the rapid evaporation of sweat, and partly to, 
the coolness of the nights, which favors rest and recuperation. The 
climate is remarkably adverse to epidemic diseases. The malignant 
cholera made a visitation in 1850, but was scarcely felt elsewhere than 
at Sacramento, where a combination of the most unfavorable circum- 
stances gave it destructive powei". Passengers have frequently arrived 
since that time, after traversing regions where the disease was raging, 
without introducing it. With the exception just noted, it might be 
said that no epidemic has prevailed in California since its settlement 
by Americans. Every summer an influenza prevails with gTeater or 
less force, in the bay climate, and in several instances it has extended 
along the coast into the neighboring region. Many of the interior val- 
leys are subject to malarious fevers, but not generally of a severe type. 
The various forms of disease which prevail elsewhere are found here, 
but they present no peculiarities worthy of comment. Insanity, and 
diseases of the heart and blood vessels, are frequent, but this is due 
rather to moral and physical causes than to climatic influence. 

The relation of the climate to pulmonary afi^ections presents its most 
important aspect. Many persons threatened with lung disease, or but 
slightly affected by it, have regained their health completely by immi- 
gration. But the benefit is to be ascribed to the sea voyage, and to 
circumstances incident to change of residence, more than to the cura- 
tive effect of the climate of the Pacific coast. To individuals in other 
countries suffering with tubercular disease in its established stages, 
this country offers no valid prospect of benefit. Consumption is 
developed in California as it is in most other portions of the temperate 
zone. The chilly winds of the ocean climate in summer, whilst they 
will, in many cases, brace the system against debility, and enable it to 
resist the invasion of disease, depress the vital forces in other cases 
beneath the power of resistance. On the other hand, the extreme heat 
of the interior leads to the same injurious results by its exhausting 
operation. But there is a wide lange of climate between the two 
extremes, more favorable than any other on the Pacific slope to pul- 
monary patients, and much, more favorable, it may be added, than the 
climate of the Atlantic States, either in summer or winter. The same 
may be said of the southern section of the State in general. The win- 
ter of California everywhere exhibits great uniformity in its relation to 
pulmonary invalids, and is decidedly superior to the corresj)onding 
season on the Atlantic slope. 



CnAPTEU V. 

AGEICULTUEE. 

AOEict7LTUKE. Preliminary Observations. The Cereals : Wlieat, Barley, Oats, Bice, etc 
Grasses: Alfalfa, CloTer, etc. Cotton— Flax— The Sugar Beet— Melon Sugar— Hops- 
Tobacco— Mustard Seed— The Amole, or Soap Plant— The Tea Plant. Fruits and Nuts : 
Apples — Pears — Peaches — Pliims — Cherries— Oranges — Lemons— Limes— Bananas — 
Olives— Almonds— Chestnuts, etc. Berries : Strawberries — Kaspbenies — Blackberries. 
Dried Fruits : Kaisins— Currants — Prunes — Figs, etc. Pickles, Preserved Fruits and 
"Vegetables: Orange Marmalade — Quince Jelly — Onions, etc. Potatoes — Large Growths. 
Dairy Products : Butter — Cheese. Cattle and Horses—Sheep and 'Wool — Hogs— Bees 
and Honey — Insects. Wood Planting : Transplanting Trees — The Sirocco. Agricul- 
tural Implements : Steam Ploughs — The California Land Dresser. Irrigation — Under 
Draining — Famine Years— Late Bains- The Farmer's Troubles in California — Hints 
to Emigrants — Contrasts— Advantages — The Chinese in California — Farm Labor — Har- 
mony among Producers. VrNicuxTUEE. Grapes — "Wine — Brandy — "Wine Merchants, etc. 
R tt.tt CuLTnEE. Mulberry Trees — Cocoons — Diseases of Silk "Worms, etc. 

Else-where in this "work "will be found general statements pertaining 
to the agricultural productions of each county in the State. One of 
the purposes of this chapter, is to present to inquirers abroad a clear 
comprehension of what a farmer in the Atlantic States, or in Europe, 
■would desire to kno-w should he contemplate emigrating to California. 
In endeavoring to do this, "we have aimed to ans-wer every question this 
class of inquirers "would be likely to ask, not omitting to mention the 
disadvantages that exist, so that having the -whole subject fairly pre- 
sented to him he can act intelligently in the premises. 

Except in treating of the dairy business, -s^hich requires peciiliar 
conditions of climate and situation, -we have not directed much atten- 
tion to localities — for the area is very large from -which to choose ; and, 
besides, that is done elsewhere in this volume, -where also -will be found 
descriptions of the various soils, and quotations of prices. There is, 
however, no standard quotation anywhere except around towns, and 
there it may so change in a year as to mislead. In general terms, land 
is very rich and very cheap. Improved farms can always be bought of 
persons ready for a change at moderate prices. It may, also, be said 



AGRICnLTTTRE. 353 

tliat the trials and discomforts of tlie first year of emigrant life are less 
by sixty per cent, than in the western Atlantic States, owiag to pecu- 
liarities hereafter explained. 

The climate of California is so mild in winter, which is in fact the 
season of verdure, that very little feed or shelter is provided. Barns 
are almost unknown. Some degree of shelter would, however, prove 
beneficial to animals in long protracted rains. By February spring 
comes ; ploughing begins in November, if, as is usual, the rain fall 
suffices to soften the ground ; sowing following immediately after, 
except on lands subject to be flooded — ^but grain can be sown at any 
time during the winter months. The best crops are grown when 
the rains of March and April are sufficient to carry the growth to 
maturity in June or July, which is the harvest time. When these are 
deficient, early seeding fares the best. This system gives more pleasant, 
and profitable winter occupation than in the Atlantic States. It is,, 
however, in the time of harvest that the farmer finds his chief advan- 
tage ; his crops are gathered without a rain fall to injure them, or to 
cause a day to be lost. 

THE CEKEAIiS. 

Wheat — The varieties of wheat chiefly raised are Chilean and Aus- 
tralian. Grain-cutters are in universal use. Threshing is all done by 
machinery on the field, and grain is sacked on the spot, where it may lie 
safe from injury, needing no shelter, till October. It is allowed to get 
fully ripe, and is so entirely cured that it never sweats in the ship's 
hold, however long the voyage; nor does this entire rijpeness cause 
much loss of grain by falling to the ground in handling. It is a pecu- 
liarity of all seeds here, that the containing capsules hold them fast 
till the first rain relaxes their fibres and allows them to drop. On this, 
account harvesting need not be hurried. A field of wheat may stand a 
month, or even two, after being fully ripe, and lose but little by its late 
cutting. This gives the farmer a longer time to dispose of his crop 
without immediately incurring the expenses attending carriage and 
storage. 

A farmer who owns his land can always arrange for money advances, 
either to cover his first outlays for a crop, or to hold his grain for a 
market, if he be not too remote from shipping points. The great crop 
is wheat; nearly half the land under culture in the State being devoted 
to it. It is the money-making crop; therefore, we give leading parti- 
culars in regard to it. 

Kegarding the certainty of a market for wheat at fair paying rates, 
we give the aspect of the future, as it appears at this time. California 
23 



354 THE NATURAL "WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

produced in 1867 about fifteen millions bushels of this cereal, of which 
nearly eight millions "were exported. The average mai-ket price during 
that year was $2 per one hundred pounds, the riding rates in the early 
part of 1868 having been $2.60 per 'one hundred pounds. Our exports 
of flour during the year 1867 amounted to 520,000 barrels. 

In no country can wheat be raised to greater profit even at the high 
price of farm labor, say forty dollars a month and board. Eighty cents 
a bushel, in favorable seasons and localities, pays the farmer, since one 
seeding can be made to produce two crops ; the second being termed 
a volunteer crop, and coming from the seed that falls in harvesting the 
first. The yield is somewhat less, but the profit is of course much 
larger, as there is no expense for ploughing and seeding. The Cali- 
fornia farmer is at no expense for manure ; he bums the straw! 
This looks like wasteful and destructive exhaustion of the soil. In 
some places it is being seriously felt, and in time it must work uni- 
versal impoverishment of the land. But there is a large extent of 
land which has been in grain for fifteen years, and yet produces 
twenty to twenty-five bushels to the acre, as at first. There are well 
authenticated cases of fields situated in the San Joaquin valley, that 
have been cultivated to grain for sixteen consecutive years without 
diminution of the production, except one year, when the crops were a 
total failure, from the absence of the usual rains. Eegarding the 
quality of California wheat, it may be mentioned that it commands 
extra prices in England and France, especially on account of its faculty 
of appropriating much more water in the baking process than other 
flour, and thus giving greater weight of bread. Our principal market 
for wheat is England ; next. New York, and other domestic ports. 
Freights to New York and Eui-ope, dui-ing the year 1867, ruled at 
about $15 per ton. Flour is sent to New York, by steamer via Panama, 
for $2 per barrel, considerable being shipped by that route. Shij:)- 
ments to Mexico and Central America are increasing, as well as to 
various other parts of the world. 

Oats — This grain, of which comparatively little was at fii'st cultivated 
in the State, barley being preferred because of its greater cheapness 
for horse feed, has for the past few years been growing in favor, and is 
every year being more extensively planted. The total jjroduct of the 
State for 1867 reached about 2,000,000 bushels, the average yield having 
been about thirty bushels to the acre. The quantity received in San 
Francisco for the year from the interior was 282, 000 sacks of one him- 
dred pounds each. Very little was exported, nearly the whole being 



AGEICUXTUEE. 355 

required for liome consumption. Much of tliis graia is cut while 
green and made into hay. 

Wild Oats — When California became first known to Americans the face 
of the country was nearly everywhere covered with wild oats. Though 
parched in the long summer, the grain held firmly in its capsule and 
supplied the most fattening pastiu-e. It still prevails outside of culti- 
vation, fiTrnishing a la.rge proportion of the hay in use in many locali- 
ties. It differs from tame oats in being smaller, and in this peculiarity, 
that it has bearded projections, with bended joints, like the legs of tho 
grasshopper. "When the first rain comes it limbers out the joints, which 
being dried by the sim, after the rain, shrink, causing the berry to 
hop about, giving it a wide distribution over the land. The wild oat, 
though differing materially, is probably a climatic deterioration of the 
tame oats brought here by the Spanish missionaries some seventy 
years ago. 

Barleij — This grain being an almost certain crop, has heretofore been 
largely grown in California, the crop for 1867 being estimated at ten 
million bushels. It is here made to subserve nearly the same uses as 
oats and Indian corn in the Atlantic States, being the principal grain 
fed to cattle, horses and swine. Like wheat and oats, much is grown 
from volunteer crops, the yield being not only surer, but generally larger 
than that of those grains — averaging about thirty-two bushels to the 
acre. But comparatively little has heretofore been exported, though 
it is believed, from the superiority and cheapness of the barley grown 
here, in connection with the advantages that exist for manufacturing malt 
liquors, that this branch of business will, in a short time, be greatly 
expanded. Experiments recently made demonstrate that ale and porter 
can be made in San Francisco of a quality every way equal to the Eng- 
lish article, while the coolness of the climate admits of brewing being 
carried on throughout the entire year. 

Bice — There is a large consumption of rice here, by the fifty thou- 
sand Chinamen scattered throughout the State, the average annual 
consumption having exceeded twenty-three million pounds for several 
years past. Our large area of swamp and overflowed lands is well 
suited to rice, and the climate is equally so, but these lands cannot 
be used till guards are erected to regulate the water flow. No rice has 
yet been cultivated in California. There are many varieties of rice, and 
it is not always a water-plant. Many kinds are called hill rice, which 
produce a fine grain. With irrigation, it might be more profitable than 
wheat. But with irrigating canals all varieties could be cultivated, and 
tliis should be an inducement of some weight to urge their construction. 



356 THE natueaij wealth op califoenia. 

Bye, BuchwJieai and Indian Corn are little cultivated. The latter can 
be grown to profit only in favored localities, on account of cool nights, 
late maturinpc, and an almost entire absence of summer rains. 



There is little or no sod in California. In the Atlantic States and 
in Eui'ope grass is killed by winter frosts, but the roots survive and 
make sod, which spring rains revive ; but the long summer drought of 
this climate, with scarcely any rain from April to November, takes the 
life from the roots, and for hay or pasture it is necessary to renew sow- 
ing every year. The hay of California is mostly made from oats and 
barley, cut before ripening, and as it is cured without rain, it has a 
bright, light-green color — ^when not too excessively sun dried. It is 
very nutritious — oat hay being preferred to barley. In isolated local- 
ities there are moist valley spots amid the rolling hills where there is 
some summer verdure. 

Bioncli-grass is a peculiar herbage on many dry hill sides, and 
affords a perpetual pasture. It occurs always in detached bunches, 
sufficient in size to make a small mouthful, and seems to be proof 
against drought — but is not cultivated. Wherever the sage-brush is 
found, (popular emblem of complete barrenness,) cattle keep fat on 
this curious grass — which flourishes under the shelter of the brush. 
It is the first verdure that makes its appearance and gives pasture in 
the early spring. 

Alfalfa, is a species of clover which gives perennial pasture and makes 
excellent hay, when cultivated. Its roots go down to moisture at depths 
incredible, and they seem to travel till they reach it ; but once fairly 
rooted, it is difficult to eradicate this grass; and as it attracts gophers, 
to the great annoyance of the farmer, it is not generally in gi-eat favor 
— ^but its cultivation is extending. 

Bitrr clover differs from other varieties in having a peculiar seed, 
faU. of rich oil, enclosed in a pricldy capsule. Cattle do not fancy it 
much imtil it is dead ripe and scattered over the ground, but during 
the entire summer, and when to our eyes invisible, it supplies a nour- 
ishing food to the lapping tongue of cattle. 

Alfderilla has the appearance of the wild geranium but has not been 
cultivated. Wherever it grows it is the favorite pasture with cattle. It 
stands second to none of the grasses in its endurance of drought, and 
flourishes on hill sides, where alfalfa grass fails for want of moisture. 
To the eye, alfilerilla is a flattened tuft, hugging the gi-ound. It appears 
to give scarcely a fair hold to the bite of cattle, but, if lifted up, it shows 



AGEICULTTIRE. 357 

a great moutMul. In cultiTated ground, wterever it lias an opportii- 
nity to gain an undisturbed growth, it gives proof that it would yield a 
heavy crop, of good height and of unsurpassed richness, for hay as well 
as pasture. Probably it would prove more valuable to cut and feed 
in the green state. It is deserving of more attention than it receives. 

The Lupin, which is cultivated as a grass in France, gi-ows wild 
among the sand hills of the Coast Range of California, and could bo 
made profitable where little else will grow, by planting select varieties. 
There is a coarse joint-grass which runs like a vine over the sands bor- 
dering the sea, and which spreads with wonderful swiftness — every joint 
sending down roots. For sheep and goats it would furnish a never- 
dying supply of pasturage. 

Timothy, Orchard, Herd and Red-Top, as Avell as other favorite grasses 
of the Atlantic States, are limited to a few places in this country, 
because they would furnish but one crop, and then die in the drought 
of summer. But, in time, these grasses will be cultivated in moist 
mountain dells and on improved swamp lands ; in certain localities they 
are now doing well. 

Natural meadows of great extent are found interspersed among the 
watery tule lands. They are very wet in winter, and their grass, though 
a sure crop and heavy, is wiry, coarse, and of inferior nourishment ; 
yet, at times, it is of priceless value; The year 1864 was one of famine 
to cattle in this State ; the rains were scant, and the usual feeding 
grounds were barren. Some enterprising men cut fifty thousand tons 
of this coarse grass in that year, and it proved the salvation of a large 
number of cattle, and a source of great profit to the adventurers. 
Among the recuperative resources of the State, this may be counted 
on hereafter as of great value. 

COTTON. 

Cotton encounters the same difficulty as corn, without irrigation; 
wherefore, it seems hardly deserving a place in the list of our agricul- 
tural staples. The time will come when irrigation, as a grand system, 
will be called for and adopted, rendering the more extensive culture of 
these articles probable. 

FIAX. 

The establishment of a mill in San Francisco, and also one in Sut- 
ter county, for the manufacture of linseed and other vegetable oils, 
has had the effect to encourage within the past year a more extensive 
culture of flax and the castor oil bean than before. Thus far the San 
Francisco mill, the other having been more recently built, has been 



358 THE NATUEAIi \^^VLTH OF CjiLIFOKNIA. 

obliged to rely cliiefly upon foreign importations for its supplies of 
linseed ; but a desire having been expressed to take seed of home 
growth to the amount of five hundred tons annually, our farmers are 
likely to engage in the culture of the plant more largely hereafter. 
Flax being native to California, growing -wild in some portions of the 
State, can undoubtedly be successfully and profitably raised on a large 
scale. Indeed, the trials already made show that there is no trouble 
in making good crops — over fifteen hundred jjounds of seed having 
been produced to the acre, the stalk of the plant being large and vigor- 
ous, and coated with a strong and abundant fibre. The total jjroduct 
of the State for 1867 was one hundred and fifty tons ; though it is 
believed a home market could be had for four times that amount at 
remunerative prices, the ruling rates heretofore having been four and 
a half cents per pound. Hitherto no fabric has been made here from 
this textile ; but with such an extensive yearly demand for sacking, it 
seems highly probable that this plant will soon be made to contribute 
largely towards supplying this important and growing want of the State, 
this material having heretofore been wholly imported. 

StTGAB BEET. 

Although the sugar cane cannot be grown in California, more 
sugar may be made from the beet than in any other country. This 
vegetable grows to an enormous size here and is of easy cultivation. 
Experiments prove that it is much richer in sugar than the beet of 
France, ten per cent, against six per cent. It is well known that 
when the sugar beet is taken from the ground and stored for winter 
use, it undergoes a chemical change, to the loss of a notable per cent- 
age of its sugar. In California, beets remain in the soil unharmed by 
frost, and keep on growing through the winter, so that they need not 
be taken iip till wanted for milling. This would prove a great saving 
of the saccharine matter, avoiding also the cost of storage and hand- 
ling. A company has been formed in France and Germany, through 
Mr. George Gordon, of San Francisco, for the manufacture of beet 
sugar in this State. This company proposes to buy the beets and not 
to raise them. They offer to erect works in any locality, and to any 
number and extent required, wherever fifteen hundred acres may be 
devoted to beet cidture. It is likely that many will avail themselves 
of this offer, and by engaging largely in the growing of this root, sup- 
ply, at least in part, the consumption of sugar in California by an arti- 
cle of home production. 



AGEICXILT0EE. 359 

MELON SUGAB. 

There is at the eastern base of the Alps much land subject to being 
destroyed by deep washings of sand, on which nothing wiU grow except 
melons, only two being allowed to mature on a single Tine. As the 
melons are gathered, they are slashed open with a big knife, and a 
wooden scoop empties the pulp into a vessel where the juice is ex- 
pressed. This is boiled rudely, and crystalized like maple sugar in 
the Atlantic States. The sugar sells at remunerative prices, is light 
colored and sweet. Eed pulp melons give a darker sugar, white pulp 
is therefore preferred. "We have in this State a great area of land 
similarly destroyed every year. This sugar-melon example is com- 
mended to poor men, who can get the free use of the space, and pro- 
ceed on small capital. 

HOPS. 

This climate is peculiarly suited to hops. The vine grows and bears 
well wherever it has been planted. It does best on low poles or stakes 
and running on cords between, by which its roots get shelter from our 
long summer sun. The yield, while the vines are yet so young, is 
over eleven hundred pounds per acre ; fifteen hundred pounds may be 
the yield per acre in 1868. The consumption is not yet sufficient for 
extended cultivation, biit for reasons stated in speaking of barley, 
this will likely soon become one of our agricultural staples. In three 
years the hop vine gains maturity and weight of product equal to five or 
six years elsewhere. It yields an extraordinary proportion of the resin- 
ous lupuline that gives it value to the brewer, and its flavor cannot be 
excelled. The hop vine, once rooted, is profitable in other countries 
for seven years before it begins to fail, so that it needs small labor 
beyond annual trailing, cutting down, and gathering. In no other 
country are hops so easily harvested and cured as in California. In 
England they are almost always injured by mildew in the growth, and 
by rain fall in picking time. There the' fruit never fully ripens for 
want of sunshine. It is greatly injured and discolored by the severe 
kiln-drying necessary to its preservation in packages. Here, untar- 
nished by rain, or fog, or heavy dews, hops come to as full ripeness as 
it is convenient to permit with reference to the tenacity of the pollen 
or lupuline; so that the further curing requires very little artificial 
heat, and a very short exposure to it. They come from what can 
scarcely be called a kiln, holding that fresh green color that proves so 
desirable and makes them the admiration of the brewer. The crop of 
this State for 1867 amounted to about 425,000 pounds. At the French 
Exposition of 1867, a single bale of hops represented California in 



360 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFORISaA. 

this article. It attracted the notice of the brewers and hop growers of 
England and Germany to such a degree that each in taking a sample 
soon reduced the bale to a mere remnant. Hops lose one half of their 
value if carried over the year of their growth, from the volatility of 
their aroma. They suffer therefore from long sea voyages, even if 
encased in air-tight packages. This is a tariff of protection to our 
growers. The home article commands about fifty cents per ]Dound at 
our breweries. 

TOBACCO. 

EncoTU'aged by war prices, in 1861 and 1862, the culture of tobacco 
was tried in Napa and Russian river valleys, and at other places. Bich 
low land was selected which made the leaf rank — a quality corrected in 
some instances where planted on higher land. It was planted early, 
and cropped in September — no irrigation being found necessary. No 
one was skilled in curing it, but a fair Virginia-plug, chewing tobacco, 
was made of the leaf. The prejudice encountered by a new California 
brand rendered much of it unsalable. When a Virginia brand was 
substituted, however, the same tobacco gained favor to such an extent 
as to warrant the belief that it might be made a success. It did not 
answer for cigars, but some raised on higher land, from Connecticut 
seed, was found to serve well for wrappers. The price of tobacco sub- 
sequently fell, under over importations, and farmers could not continue 
its culture at current cost of labor. A good article can, no doubt, 
be grown, if the seed and tho soil are properly selected, and skill and 
care are observed in curing the leaf. It would pay if it were to com- 
mand ten to twelve cents a pound, and the consumption is large enough 
to make it an important production. 

CHICCOET. 

Chiccory grows so luxuriantly, and with so little cost, that a second 
factory for the conversion of the root into coffee is now established in 
San Francisco, intended for a large export, as well as for supplying the 
entire home consumption. This mixing ingredient can scarcely be 
called an adulteration — for the taste of Europe and America demands 
it as an improvement. It modifies the bitter taste of coffee, and serves 
as a correcting aperient against the stringency that belongs to coffee. 
Fifty tons of chiccory were produced last year on fifteen acres in Yolo 
county. 

MUSTAED SEED. 

The great pest of our wheat fields in the rich valleys, from Alameda 
to the Santa Cruz and Pajaro basins, is wild mustard. It stubbornly 
resists extinction, and so grows and overtops the grain with its yellow 



AGKICUlTliEE. 361 

flowers that a stranger might mistake it for the crop intended to be 
raised. A small quantity has always been gathered here for table 
use, it being of excellent quality ; but latterly it is found to make an 
oil adapted to all the uses to which olive oil is applied. It is gathered 
by Chinamen, who thresh and bring the seed to the oil mill in San 
Francisco, where they dispose of it at two to three cents per pound. 
Many who have made trial of it prefer this oil to that made from lard 
or the olive for cooking purposes; it also holding out against rancidity 
longer than the latter. 

THE AMOIiB, OE SOAP PLANT. 

The amole or soap plant, a white, bulbous root, having the size and 
shape of an oblong onion, grows sparsely on the prairies and foot-hills of 
California. When bruised and rubbed in water it makes a rich lather, 
and being possessed of highly detergent properties, was much employed 
by the early inhabitants of California as a substitute for soap, being 
in fact almost exclusively used by them in washing clothes. The stalk 
of the amole, which grows to a height of four or five feet, has numer- 
ous slender branches, thickly budded, the whole bearing a strong resem- 
blance to the asparagus plant. The bulb has a fibrous envelope, end- 
ing in a hair-like tuft above ground, the outer coating, as it decays, 
becoming dark-colored and husky. These roots, being gathered by 
Chinamen, are taken to the factories, where the pulpy matter having 
been separated from the fibres, the latter are dried and twisted by 
machinery, receiving a crimp which they afterwards retain. When 
prepared, this material is the best substitute for curled hair mat- 
rasses and upholstering purposes. Within the past few years quite 
an extensive business has grown up here in collecting and manufac- 
turing this fiber ; and, as the raw material is abundant, and costs noth- 
ing but the gathering — the farmers being glad to be rid of this plant, 
sometimes troublesome in plowing — there is a certainty of its meeting 
with a steady expansion hereafter. 

THE TEA PLANT. 

A few years since some plants were imported from China, but the 
cultivation of tea for beverage has never been undertaken in this country. 
Its true home would be among the higher foot-hUls — as it becomes rank 
when grown in low lands. A wet soil is not desirable, a finer quality 
of leaf often being produced from thin soils, and where sixty days of 
snow give it winter rest. This is one of the hardiest of plants, and fire 
only kills the top, to give a new and richer growth from the roots. In 



362 THE NATtnBAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA. 

Japan and China the shrub grows three feet high, and bears two crops 
of leaves during the year. 

FBUTTS ANI> NXTXS. 

It is not necessary to enumerate all the fruit trees— every variety 
has been grown in California. The Pomological Society gives a list 
of 1, 186 as having been examined, of which 561 varieties are approved 
as doing well here, viz : apples, 178 ; pears, 122 ; peaches, 55 ; cher- 
ries, 43 ; plums, 33 ; apricots, 11 ; grapes, 18 native and 22 foreign ; 
strawberries, 25 ; currants, 18 ; gooseberries, 13 ; raspberries, 12. 
There are 625 varieties to which the Society does not give approbation, 
and we confine our list to the leading varieties of fruit sold in the mar- 
kets of San Francisco. 

Apples — Early: Red June, red Astracan and early harvest. Autumn : 
Fall pippin. Cooper's market. Porter, Rhode Island greening, and Jon- 
athan. Winter : Esopus, white and blue pearmain, belMower, black 
Detroit, Baldwin, Spitzenberg, red-cheek pippin, Schwaar, gi-een and 
yellow Newtown pippin, Virginia greening, black heart, winesap, and 
Roxbury russet. 

Fears — ^Early : Doyenne d'ete, Madelaine, Dearborn seedling. Blood- 
good, and Bartlett. Autumn : Buerre Diel, Fondante d'automne or 
Belle lucratif, Seckel, Beurre clairgeau. Winter : Glout morceau, 
Easter Beurre, and Winter Nellis. Our best winter pears, such as 
Easter Beurre, find sale in Japan at good prices, and further regular 
consignments are ordered. 

Peaches — Early Tiletson, Early York, Strawberry, Early Crawford, 
Morris' white, and late Crawford. The peach tree is a fine bearer 
here, but the curled leaf is spreading, and it may be found necessary 
to apply some remedy to check the disease, if the crop is to continue 
to be profitable. Our fruit trees were brought originally from the 
nurseries of the Atlantic States, with the seed of diseases peculiar to 
those localities. The same system of exhaustion has been pursued in 
efforts to continue certain limited varieties by gi-afting on stocks not 
of their kind. Nature demands continual change for healthy produc- 
tion, and in this climate of exhaustive growth it will be foimd neces- 
sary to resort to raising native varieties from the seed, in order to get 
plants that will allow fair play to Nature, in adapting them to the 
peculiarities of our soils and climate. It is a general rule that imjDorted 
trees yield fruits here with flavor less pronounced than in their native 
homes. Following Eastern experience and forgetting the great differ- 
ence of climate, our horticulturists have bared the stems of fruit trees 
to an unaccustomed sun, by trimming away the lower branches. As a 



AGEICULTUEE. 



363 



consequence, tlie bark becomes cracked on tlie sunny side and insects 
enter. It is above all things desirable that orcliardists and nursery- 
men turn their attention to this error, in growing and transplanting 
for new orchards ; for existing orchards seem destined to suffer 
materially from this evil. 

Plums— Dxap d'Ete', green and purple Gage, Coliunbia, Bradshaw, 
red and yellow Magnum Bonum, Washington, Jefferson, and Prune 
d'Agen. As the Washington plum, dried whole, proves acceptable to 
the Japanese taste, a market may hereafter be found for this fruit 
among that people. 

Cherries— Eavlj: Kentish, and Knight's early red. Late: Banman's 
May, Black Eagle, black Tartarian, Holland, and Napoleon Bigereau. 

Quinces — Apple, or orange quince, preferred. Without exception, 
all fruit in California is larger than elsewhere, and all fruit trees attain 
in two years the size and maturity of five years in other countries. 
The borer has appeared in some hot valleys, but it is generally unknown. 
No other disease is known except the curl leaf in peach trees. This is 
generally prevalent in all our valleys, and some nurseries have worms 
that knot the roots of the young trees. 

An impression prevails that all apples in California tend to meali- 
ness, that they are deficient in flavor, and do not keep well. And it is 
said that the absence of native apple trees indicates that this fruit is 
not suited to the climate. These are errors. In our valleys, it is true, 
apples are not so good. But throughout aU the foot-hills they are, 
in flavor, in keeping, and in every other respect fully up to the choicest 
standard abroad. Wild apple trees are native here. Pears and 
plums are our best fruits for flavor and weight of crop. Cherries do 
well, but birds trouble them. Apricots bear well, but they incline to 
be mealy, and insects prey upon them. The nectarine grows well, and 
is deliciously flavored. 

Oranges and Lemons are proving a very profitable crop in Los 
Angeles county and further south, and their culture is being greatly 
extended. The trees require age to become profitable bearers, and in 
seven years attain only ten feet in height and five inches in thickness. 
They then only begin to bear, and not before the ninth year are they 
a source of profit. When in full bearing, one tree ' produces from one 
thousand to two thousand oranges yearly. The orange requires nearly 
ten months to ripen from the blossom, and the tree has insect parasites 
that are very destructive. Oranges come to us from Tahiti, Mexico, Cape 
St. Lucas, the Sandwich Islands, and latterly from China. But they 
are plucked green, of course, and have a poor flavor. Our own oranges, 



364 THE NATURAL •WEALTH OF CAIIFOEXIA. 

requiring but three days to be sent to market, may be plucked fully 
ripe ; and if tlie quality of the fruit is good, they will take preference 
and make money very fast for the grower. 

Bananas — ^Plants from the Sandwich Islands having proved that 
they will do well in our southern counties, some imported from Pan- 
ama are being planted, and this greatest of all bearers may be counted 
upon as likely to soon take a place among ovji. more rare and luscious 
fruit. 

Limes, Citrons, Pomegranates, and Quinces grow well here, and no 
finer fruit than the latter is anywhere to be found — being entirely free 
from imperfection. 

Olives. — The number of olive trees planted at the old Spanish mis- 
sions, and their vigorous growth and bearing for over sixty years, 
prove their adaptation to our climate. Like the orange, the olive tree 
takes a long time to get into a profitable bearing condition, and not 
before the ninth year does it produce well. On this account its 
propagation has not been popular till quite lately. Now, numerous 
farmers are planting the tree in many portions of the State. It lives 
for himdreds of years in fxiU bearing. It is a species of willow, and 
easy to propagate from cuttings. In the experience of over sixty years, 
there has never been a failure of the olive crop here ; whereas, in 
Europe it often fails, and the fruit suffers injury from elemental causes. 
From the uniform excellence of our olives, we may depend ujdou their 
preference abroad ; and for the same reason it is probable that the oil 
will be alike superior. The oil of olives is almost universally used in 
cookery in many parts of Europe, and it would certainly be adopted 
here also, if it could be had fresh from the manufactory. It is more 
wholesome than lard, cheaper than butter, and would probably bear 
export to India, where lard is not used, on account of peculiar views. 
Almonds are produced in considerable quantities and of excellent 
quality, and large numbers of trees are being planted. The varieties 
are, paper shell, soft shell, Languedoc, and Marseilles. The almond 
is, in fact, a species of peach tree, in which the pulp of the fruit is not 
eatable, only the kernel being valued. If the tree continues to escape 
the curled leaf that attacks the other peach trees, it will prove most 
valuable. 

Madeira oiids (white walnuts) have been growing here many years, 
and they are now produced profitably in several counties. 

Hickory nuts are unknown in California. This tree, like the hem- 
lock tree in Europe, refuses to grow except in a stunted and unhealthy 
way. 



AGKICULTUEE. 365 

CJiestnuts are under tr^-' in a few places, and tlie Butternut is also 
being cultivated. 

We have sent to Japan a large assortment of every kind of fruit 
tree, vine, and berry. An agricultural society tliere promises us in 
exchange the best varieties in Japan. We may expect to find many 
that will prove acceptable additions to our horticulture, especially in 
their adaptation to our climate. 

"We have spoken of the great freedom from disease which our fruit 
trees enjoy. But it should be stated that they are liable to be injured 
and destroyed by gophers, who love roots, and when the tap root is 
cut by them the tree languishes and soon dies. " The Osage orange 
would ma!^e a cheap and enduring fence, but for the peculiar fancy the 
gopher takes to it. The presence of this rodent is well indicated by 
the fresh mounds he makes, but by vigilance, traps, and poison, he 
can be overcome. In very wet winters he goes to the hills for safety, 
and neglected hiU-side orchards are often almost entirely destroyed. 
The apple tree louse covers the bark in a large orchard in Santa Clara. 
It is very injurious, and may spread to other localities. 



Berries are an unusually productive crop in California, on account 
bi the long period of their bearing. There is not a month in the year 
in which strawberries are not to be had in San Francisco. They are 
plentiful during five months, beginning with April, and the British 
<Queen and Longworth's Prolific are most in market. They are chiefly 
Supplied from Alameda county, and the picking is done by Chinamen, 
at half the cost of American labor— one thousand pounds to the acre 
being the usual expectation. More than four hundred acres are de- 
voted to strawberries in that county. The Jucunda is a new variety, 
larger and of finer fiavor than the Longworth. 

Easpherries last four months — beginning in June ; the Falstaff is 
preferred. They are also chiefly cultivated in Alameda county, and 
China labor is used. About one thousand five hundred pounds to the 
acre are usually grown. 

Blackberries last as long as raspberries — the Lawton being preferred. 

Currants are in market three months, beginning May 15th — the 
cherry variety being preferred. 

Of native berries, growing wild and plentiful, we have currants, 
gooseberries and thimble berries, (a kind of raspberry,) that are made 
useful. 



366 THE NATUTviVL WEALTH OF C.ULIFOFATA. 

DKDED FEUITS. 

One half the fruits of California cannot be marketed, so enormous 
is the crop, and so expensive the picking and cost of carriage. The 
most extensive orchard in the State is that of Briggs & Co., at Marys- 
vUle, comprising one hundred and sixty acres, in a deep, moist, rich, 
and friable soU. The proprietors, finding the prices of fruit no longer 
profitable, have gone extensively into drying almost every variety. 
They cured over fifty tons in 1867, which in appearance and other 
respects, cannot be excelled. Owing to the power of sunshine and 
its unbroken continuity in the season, kiln drying is dispensed with, 
and the color of the cured fruit is therefore lighter and more attractive. 
This industry will be greatly extended. . 

Eaisins — Led on by Mr. B. N. Bugbey, of the foot-hills, near Fol- 
som, the raisin seems to promise us a new production. This gentleman 
uses the Malaga Muscatella grape, and has succeeded in making sev- 
eral thousand boxes of good cured raisins. Mr. Blowers, of Tolo, has 
made good raisins, and Mr. Bro^vn, of Santa Clara, also. A good 
article has also been made in other portions of the State. 

Currants, from the black or Zante variety, have been made in San 
Jose, and the experiments of two seasons prove that an article can be 
produced equal to the imported. 

Figs are cured here, but have not been thus far of good quality. 
Owing to the inferior character of the stocls^ they are small and dark 
colored, but finer varieties are now being grown extensively, from 
which cured figs of the best quality will probably soon be made. 

PICKLES, PEESEEVED FEUITS, VEGETABLES, ETC. 

For these articles this State has, until within a few years past, been 
entirely dependent on importations from the Eastern States and Eng- 
land, and has annually consumed about a million dollars worth. Cali- 
fornia is now, however, on a self supplying basis in this respect, and 
our local manufacturers are amply able to meet, not alone the demands 
of this State, but also those of Nevada, British Columbia, and Mexico, 
together with an increasing market in China and Japan. California 
ofiers a peculiarly favorable field for this business on account of pro- 
ducing so large a variety of fruits, and the soundness and maturity 
attained by all vegetables. The producer and consumer have both 
been benefited, in preserving from waste the sui-plus of one, and giving 
to the other a fine supply and variety of fruit, more fresh and whole- 
some than imported articles. In this line Messrs. Cutting & Co., of 
San Francisco, are the largest manufacturers in the State — their 



AGKICXILTXJEE. 367 

house giving employment, during the packing season, to one hundred 
and sixty hands, in preparing for market every variety of preserved 
fruits and vegetables, meats, sauces, catsup, etc. The total annual 
production of these articles amounts to $650, 000. 

Orange Marmalade. — ^This confection has a consumption so very 
extensive in Great Britain as to form a commerce worth contending for. 
It is made in Scotland, and is known in the market as Scotch marma- 
lade. The oranges are plucked in Sicily and elsewhere on Mediterra- 
nean shores, so very green, to stand the long voyage, that the marma- 
lade is really a poor representative of the orange flavor. California 
could produce a superior confection from oranges ripe and carrying 
all the flavor of this sunny climate. 

Quince Jelly is little known in England, but would be of easy intro- 
dtiction and in large demand there. It is the leading table confection 
in France and all over Europe, and it finds a ready market. This is one 
of those peculiar flavors which would probably suit the taste of Japan 
and China. The quince grows well everywhere in California, and as 
it is fit only for confection, but superior for that purpose, it may 
interest producers to suggest export markets for it. 

The dried fruits of this climate would find a preference in every 
market of the world, because the drying process can be finished with- 
out interruption of rain, in the open air, and therefore without dis- 
coloration. They are being now largely prepared, and their appear- 
ance is very fine. The canning of fruits is also assuming large pro- 
portions, and will soon became an important industry. 

Burned Onions. — ^The French make a great improvement m the 
onion by torrefying it and flattening it so as to resemble in shape, and 
to pack like the fig. Burned onions are now in general use all over 
Europe, and no gravy or soup is complete without the peculiar flavor 
and coloring they impart. The peculiar pungency which the natural 
onion has, leaving a long sustained unpleasantness on the taste, is 
entirely removed, and certain new combinations are effected by the 
chemistry of the oven, which commend it in this shape to every taste, 
while the natural flavor is well preserved, in a subdued condition. 
They are put up in packages of the same form as fig boxes, and are a 
source of considerable traffic. It is for home use, for ship stores, and 
for the markets of the Pacific, that we recommend this mode of pre- 
paring the onion, which grows so luxuriantly here. The French mode 
of preparation can only be judged by its appearance. It is black and 
quite flat, and seems to have been placed in well-heated ovens, proba- 
bly under pressure, and that the time required for this purpose is short. 



568 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 



Potatoes are easily grown in most parts of the State, and generally 
of large size and good flavor. As yet they know no disease. They 
are often left in the ground all winter, being dug only as required for 
use or market. The crop of 1867 is estimated at two million bushels, 
the prevailing price in San Prancisco being about eighty cents per 
bushel. 

liAESE GP.OWTHS. 

Big vegetables and extra great yieldings we do not consider of suf- 
ficient importance to chronicle. But we may say that as a general 
rule all growths are larger in California than elsewhere ; from big 
trees, thirty feet in diameter, to pumpkins and squashes of over two 
hundred poimds in weight. Beets frequently weigh over one hundred 
pounds, and potatoes and cabbages are also enormous. Our grains 
are all of greater weight than elsewhere as an average. Size is not, 
however, a good indication of quality, although at agricultural fairs it 
is generally so treated ; but it is more important to know that vege- 
tables in California are remarkably tender and succulent, and that 
great numbers of them grow in the open air all the year — such as cab- 
bages, celery, and cauliflowers, always with flne heads — and also beets, 
turnips, carrots, parsnips, and onions. Many others, like potatoes, 
grow for ten months. Fruits also grow larger than in the Eastern 
States ; so do fruit trees. As a general rule the tree in and from the 
nursery grows twice as fast and bears in half the time. This applies 
to every species. The weight of crop is larger and quite free from 
defects. But, if we except pears and plums, the flavor is less pro- 
nounced ; so with strawberries and raspberries. Experience is insuf- 
ficient in this young country to determine whether or not this rapidity 
of growth and excessive production leads to early decay. If the forest 
trees of the mountains may be a guide, the probability is that our 
fruit trees will endure as long as elsewhere. 

DAIRX PEODtrCTS. 

From Mendocino county to San Diego, a considerable portion of 
the Coast Eange is well adapted for the dairy business. It has not its 
equal in some respects, the land being cheap, and the expense of keep- 
ing stock trifling. The Coast Range is a mountain chain running par- 
allel with the ocean, and being bathed by its frequent fogs in summer, 
supplies moisture when all elsewhere is dry. The lowland strip, 
towards the ocean, is narrow ; but on the eastern, or laud side, there 
are valleys of great extent and fertility. This range of mountains is 



AGEICULTUEE. 369 

full of springs and evergreen nooks, often of considerable area, on its 
seaward side. The natural grasses that cover this whole range are 
very nutritious, consisting of alfilerilla, burr clover, bunch grass, and 
wild oats. 

There are twelve hundred dairies in California, having fifty to one 
hundred and fifty cows each. The cows are a cross of imported with 
Mexican stock. They pick their own feed the year round, and receive 
no shelter or other care whatever. The dairy season comprises nearly 
the whole year— grass butter being always plenty in San Francisco. 

Butter. — -The following wholesale prices were the ruling rates for 
butter in 1867 : January and February, 50e. per Bb; March, April and 
May, 30 @ 35c. per ft) ; June, July and August, 40 @ 45c. per ft) ; 
September, October, November and December, 50. @ 70c. per ft). 

The season for putting up butter to keep is April, May and June. 
It is placed in small oak casks, convenient for packing on mules to go 
into mining districts, etc. But, for city use, the butter is made into 
rolls, covered with a cotton cloth, and laid down in brine. California 
butter is so firm and so free from oleaginous ingredients, that it keeps 
in this way a year or more, and turns out, still, fresh grass butter ; the 
salt does not penetrate enough to change it. When equally well made, 
it. keeps much better than the eastern article, and requires a higher tem- 
perature to melt it. It has a peculiarly sweet aroma, by which i± is 
readily distinguished from butter imported from abroad. 

The production of butter in California for 1867 amounted to six mil- 
lion pounds — and half that amount of cheese was made. The imports 
of butter from the Atlantic States in 1867 were only haK those of 1866; 
and such are the advantages enjoyed in carrying on this business that 
we may soon become large exporters. We are even now exporting to 
Panama, and to the West Indies, to China and Japan. The butter is 
packed in tin cases with salt. 

Cheese. — The same advantages that apply to butter making are 
equally applicable to cheese — both paying a profit far beyond other 
countries, as is evident when the small cost of producing and the price 
in market are considered ; and each has alternate advantage, as the 
market varies, so that it is found best to combine the two. 

In the dry air of this summer climate, cheese cures in a very brief 
time. In two weeks from press it is marketable ; at one year it is very 
compact, ripe and rich. Cheese two years old is not known here; 
January, 1868, finds scarce a cheese in market — so active is the trade. 
The preferred size is fourteen by four and a half inches — this being 
the most convenient size for packing on mules. There is a large con- 
24 



370 THE NATXnUL WEALTH OP CAIIPORNLV. 

sumption at the mines, and in the cattle ranches beyond the dairy ranges. 
Wormy cheese is a rarity. So rapid and complete is the curing that 
mites have little chance to generate, and no moist spells intervene in 
the long summer to soften the material, and give them life and move- 
ment. 

Rennet is imported from Germany, where they have a method of 
preparation unknown to us. Our rennet imparts a flavor which pro- 
hibits its use. 

CATTLE AND HOHSES. 

The wild cattle of the Mexicans are poor, long-homed and lank — 
but they cross well with imported stock, carrying the fine points of the 
latter and the endurance of the former. Great attention has been paid 
to crossing, and very soon the pure native stock will be extinct, for it is 
unprofitable. Their flesh is tough, and their milk scant. The present 
number of cattle in California is about six hundred thousand — the 
horses amounting to two hundred thousand. 

Much greater scope of land is required here to graze the same num- 
ber of cattle than in countries visited by summer rains — the grass, when 
once cropped, not readily springing up again the same season. 

The native Mexican mustang has many excellent qualities, among 
which is great endurance. He is capital under the saddle, and very 
quick in his movements. No horse excells him in keeping up a steady 
liveliness. He will subsist on scanty food and bear you sixty miles a 
day, upon occasion ; his gait being always a gallop. He is of light 
weight, and not well suited for draft. American and half-breeds are 
fast supplanting the native stock. The imported horse improves by 
the change of climate, and racers become longer winded. Mares foal 
before they are three years old, in California, and cows bear young 
before they are two years old. 

Mules are not numerous — being chiefly used for freighting goods 
into the mines and over the mountains. They are also employed for 
packing into disti'icts where wagon roads are impracticable. 

In no countiy are cattle raised at so trifling cost. They get no 
shelter -and no feed except the wild pasture of the mountain ranges. 
As the Spanish grants, seldom less than four thousand acres, and often 
twenty thousand or more, are being subdivided, the wild ranges grow 
shorter ; and as farmers become numerous they will be able to obtain 
legislation compelling the herdsmen to keep their stock frora trespass- 
ing. This restriction is working notable changes and increasing the 
cost of cattle raising ; but it is impi-oving the stock, by inducing more 
attention, and in the end will be more profitable. 



AGEICTILTUEE. 371 . 

We have said that no provision is made to feed at any season, and 
no shelter is given. Though this system may in three years out of 
four entail no loss, there do come years when the destriietion of life 
among cattle, from starvation, is terrible. "When the winter rains fail, 
the summer pasture also fails ; and when, in the midst of winter rain, 
there comes frost to retard the groA^^th of the herbage, the feed is cut 
off, and Avant of shelter, joined to want of food, kills off the cattle by 
thousands. The winter of 1862-63 is an example of the latter, and 
the summer of 1864 of the former casualty. Again, it happens after 
the first rain in November has destroyed the dry herbage, there comes 
a dry and cold spell, during which the growth of the grass is kept 
back, causing much suffering to the cattle. In 1856, seventy thousand 
head of stock were lost in the county of Los Angeles alone, and in 
1864 half the native stock is said to have perished. 

SHEEP AITD WOOIi. 

California is, perhaps, the best country in the world, excepting 
Australia, for the raising of sheep. Nowhere do they so thrive and 
multiply with so little care ; and no fleeces of similar breeds are so 
heavy. Here, in the mountain pastures, they roam and feed themselves 
the year round. Sheep love length of range, and they have it here. 
A dry soil and climate is their special preference, and in few countries 
is the dry season more protracted. Great pains have been taken to 
improve the native breeds by crossing with choice foreign selections. 
The cost of keeping sheep is so trifling, and the increase is so great, 
that it is a very money-malcing business. Most of the diseases com- 
mon elsewhere are unknown here. Two men and a boy will take care 
of ten thousand sheep — the chief labor being to drive them into pens 
at night, to protect them from the coyotes and other wild animals — 
which, however, are not numerous. Sheep in this climate are at frn'o 
years, of the same size as they are at three years of age on the Atlantic 
side. The ewes begin to bear when one year old ; and twins occur 
much more frequently than is usual in other countries. 

One third of the wool of California is a second crop, clipped in 
autumn. This second shearing, however, is disapproved of by many 
sheep raisers, as tending not only to shorten the clip of the following 
spring, but to rob the animal of its necessary protection during the 
winter. The average quality of wool is noAv nearly up to half merino, 
and every year it improves as the breed grows better ; but the condi- 
tion of its delivery, though improving, is still complained of. Unless 



372 THE NATTIRiVL WE.ilTH OF C.tLrFOK^'IA. 

shearing is done ratlier too early, the burrs of the burr-clover get in the 
wool, and depreciate its value. 

The estimates for 1867 put the whole number of sheep in the State 
at over two millions, of which fifteen per cent, went to the shambles. 
For 1868, nearly three millions are counted on for shearing. 

The wool product of 1867 was about nine million pounds. The 
very low price of wool at present gives temporary discouragement ; but 
sheep husbandry in California will always pay better than in any other 
State in the Union. 

HOGS. 

No stock in this country is more easily reared, or multiplies so rap- 
idly as swine. In many places Avhere the soil is thin, oak and other 
trees supply vast ranges of mast feed — the baked soil of summer, how- 
ever, renders it difficult for these animals to root well. The tule cane, 
covering so very extensive an area of swamp land, has potato-like bulbs 
at the root, upon which millions of swine could fatten throughout the 
summer ; the spring shoots also give a good pasture. This land being 
all free, and likely long to remain so, presents inducements for en- 
gaging in the raising of these animals. 

BEES AND HONEY. 

No bees were found in California at an early day. But so great has 
been their increase in nine years, since they were fii'st imported, that 
honey is now very abundant. 

Unlike almost everything else, the bee can be profitably raised only 
iinder certain conditions. They must be near a river, or moist lowland. 
In the great plains many of them perish in the dried up fields after the 
first months of spring — ^requiring all the honey they make to keep them 
alive and in health. The farmer can readily raise honey for his family, 
by cultivating summer flowers. But we speak of honey culture as a 
business. 

The banks of the Sacramento are lined with willows and wild flow- 
ers, which afford the bee rich pasturage in March, April and May. 
Then follows a period of six weeks in which there is not sustenance 
enough in the fields to support him, and he must draw upon the honey 
in the hive. From early in July to October, the bee finds good support 
from the honey dew found upon the leaves of the cottonwood, upon 
some oaks and the wild cane that grows ten feet high, and has leaves 
twelve inches long by one and a half in width. The honey dew is an 
exudation from the body of a species of aphis, which is most plentiful 
in seasons of greatest warmth. But the occasional siroccos (mentioned 
elsewhere) are death to the aphis. 



AGKICTILTUEE. 373 

Honey made from this dew is coarse and unfit for market, and it is 
reserved for bee feed. In autumn there comes, in many localities, a 
new variety of flower pasture; and the creosote, named from its odor, 
is an annual that supplies bee feed for six weeks in September and 
October, making very white honey; but it crystalizes. Spring honey is 
the best; and that from the mountains command much higher prices. 
The wild buckwheat affords good autumn bee pasture, and wild mustard 
supplies fine feed in spring. Cephalanthus, manzanita, arbutus or 
madrona, wild azalea (very long in flower), sweet alysum, alfilerilla, 
clovers and a sort of wild mint supply pasture for the bee. But best 
of all for rich honey, is the wild sage of the mountains, which flowers 
from mid April to the last of May. 

Mr. S. Harbison, nurseryman and bee culturist, near Sacramento, 
is a pioneer in this pursuit, and has now one thousand hives. He 
usually sends part of his stock into the mountains to feed on flowers 
that blossom there later than in the lower valleys. 

The honey of California is distinguished for its great body, but it 
differs materially according to the locality and the predominant flowers 
at the time of its production. The yield of honey to the bee in Cali- 
fornia is double that made usually in the Atlantic States. Bees 
consume here much more of their stock in summer than in winter for 
sustenance, and though they require so much less honey for support in 
this coimtry, they work and store all the same. California has a. great 
variety and expanse of very gay flowers, like the escolchia, that never 
die ; but, as a rule, the gayer the flower the less honey it has. This 
fact might furnish a text for moral instruction. Honey comes to mar- 
ket from Los Angeles, and is so abundant and chea]D (twenty-five cents 
a pound) that the production does not seem remunerative at this tiaie. 
At fifty cents per pound it would pay well. We have the moth and 
the yellow jacket, but they are not so bad as the "foul brood," which 
destroys the larva — coming here through some hives sent from the 
valley of the Mohawk. 

EfSECTS. 

Until very lately California claimed immunity from nearly every 
disease and every insect Avhich afflicted the farms and orchards of 
other countries, but we are beginning to find that these evils are com- 
ing. The grape fly has taken possession of the vines in several local- 
ities. It is a species of microscopic grasshopper which has always 
fed on the alfilerilla grass, and now shows preference for the grape 
leaf. By day it lies concealed and sheltered from the sun on the under 
side of the leaf. At niglit it feeds on the upj)er part of the leaf. The 



374 THE NATUEAl ■WE.\XTH OF CALIFORNLi. 

leaf is tlie lung of tlie plant, and soon its destruction causes the fi-uit 
to witlier. The vine itself will certainly yield to this life-sapping pro- 
cess ; but the evil is not yet wide spread enough to arouse public 
attention to devise a remedy. Touching the stem with petroleum is 
suggested, in order that the ascending vapors may kill the fly. The 
apple borer and one species of curculio have been found in a few places. 
Grasshoppers, and crickets, and the army worm have at times been 
destructive, but not over any extended area. The wheat fly will not 
probably give trouble so long as foreign grain is not imported, though 
some new parasite may be looked for, following the vegetable laws 
elsewhere universally revealed. Vegetables are as yet but little affected 
by diseases or insect parasites ; but the forced cultivation by market 
gardeners must lead to their production. 

WOOD PIjANTING. 

Wood is scarce along the line of our chief farming lands, but it 
need not continue so. Trees can be planted which in five years will 
give, in thinning out, most valuable wood. In six years they would 
be larger than at ten years in the Atlantic States. Many of the farm- 
ers of California are now in a condition to make investments of this 
character. It is unnecessary to specify the trees best adapted for fuel 
and for farm use, for experience will teach what varieties are best in 
each locality. There are, however, many trees that would be a source 
of large revenue, and of grateful shade and pleasant prospect which, 
may be mentioned. The Peruvian bark tree, chincona, was imported 
into India, and is now growing in extensive groves on the foot-hills of 
the snowy Himalayas, producing the finest quinine and paying beyond 
all other pursuits. By investing the bark with moss for eighteen 
months, it thickens and grows richer in quinine. The Japan varnish 
tree may be seen, in healthy growth, in the city gardens of San Fran- 
cisco, and it would pay to cultivate ; the wax tree also among others. 
Besides paying, these groves would beautify the landscape, now so 
dreary and barren, and throw some attractions around to give an air 
of home comfort, where now seems only desolation. In France, great 
amelioration of the climate is being experienced from the extended 
system of artificial wood-planting inaugurated years ago by government, 
under compulsory legislation. 

Transplanting Trees. — ^It is the custom here to follow the course 
pursued in countries of quite difi^erent climatic requirement, in found- 
ing an orchard. The tree is raised in a nurserj'^, grafted there, and 
afterwards transplanted to its permanent home in the orchard. In 



AGKICULTTXBE. 375 

other lands, where summer showers supply moisture to the plant 
through surface roots, this practice answers; but, in California, the 
instinct of the plant makes its first and greatest effort in the formation 
of a grand pump-root, which it sends rapidly downward in the nearest 
direction to moisture, for safety to life in our long summer droughts. 
The plant cannot be taken from this first position without mutilating 
the pump-root, and it will not afterwards continue its course in the 
same direction as before; but, instead, it throws out, probably, several 
shoots in less favorable inclinations. It may be supposed that, on this 
account, the tree will be less able to sustain itself, especially in seasons 
of extraordinary trial. Agriculturists, from Em-ope, especially, are 
warned against adherence to their experiences abroad as infallible 
guides in a climate so entirely dissimilar. In nothing does this coun- 
sel apply so forcibly as in tree culture. 

THE SIROCCO. 

During nearly every summer, some spells of extraordinary heat 
occur in the interior and southern section of the State, with a burning 
wind from the north — ^usually limited to three days. The thermometer 
runs up to over one hundred degrees of Fahrenheit, and the hottest 
current courses near the ground. In 1859, such a sirocco passed 
through the nursery of Wilson Flint, at Sacramento, and destroyed 
tliousands of young fruit trees by burning off a ring of bark close to 
the ground. It is an early hint to the horticulturist — warning him not 
to remove the lower limbs and bare the stem to exposure in this climate; 
for, though the effect be not so visible on large trees, at the moment, it 
must injure them, and, by repetition, bring decay. 

AGBICUIiTUEAIi IMPLBMENTg. 

Labor saving machinery is largely employed in California farming. 
Seeding, hay making, grain cutting and threshing machines are more 
used here than in any other country, in proportion to the crops. They 
cost the farmer double the prices of the Atlantic side, but the high 
price of farm labor necessitates their general use. We have as yet no 
steam ploughs, but in no country are they more wanted, nor is any 
soil better adapted to them, there being but few stones, while the 
enclosures are generally of large dimensions. The only drawback is 
the scarcity of fuel, but where the ploughman's wages are three dollars 
a day this expense can be afforded. The ploughing done is usually 
very shallow, an evil that the steam plough would correct, and bring 
back to original production all lands now showing a falling off ; for, aa 
a general rule, our soil is deep. The gang plough, which is superced- 



376 THE NATXIEAl ■WEALTH OF C.ULIFORNIA. 

ing the Bingle plough, consists of two to four ploughs set in one frame. 
Of all the ploughs sent from abroad scarcely any exactly suit, and for 
this reason the home made is increasing in favor. Now that wealth is 
accumulating among farmers, it may be expected that, as in England, 
they will associate together and soon have steam ploughs at every 
important center. This will give great expansion to cultivation by 
deeper and better dressing, and greatly increase the production of the 
present area. 

Steam Plouglis. — In England they are not locomotive. The engine is 
fixed on a track at one end of the field and the gang plough is drawn 
back and forth by ropes and pulleys. It turns over twenty to thirty 
acres a day, and in perfect execution, surpasses the horse plough. If it 
could be locomotive it would do much more work. The climate of 
England is too moist for firm wheeling, and the land is also too undu- 
lent. In California it is different. If ploughing be done in summer 
the engine would always be sure of a hard bottom for wheeling. In 
our grain valleys the sweeps of land are long and level. Perhaps there 
might be difficulty in getting the plough through some of our toughest 
adobe soils in the season of their hardest baking, but then the plough- 
ing time could be changed. In all other soils there would probably 
be no difficulty. There are in our valley lands no stones to give hin- 
drance. For side-hill ploughing there would have to be special adap- 
tation of machinery. Summer fallowing never can be extensively done 
■with horses in our dry-baked soils, and unquestioned benefits must be 
lost unless steam comes to our aid, or irrigation be introduced to soften 
the gi-ound. The steam plough and its follower vrould give us deeper 
tillage, finer pulverization, better seeding and covering, and it may be 
safely added, one third more harvest. This subject is ri^je for notice. 
There are now being brought out some California inventions in the 
■way of locomotive ploughs and dressers, and everything seems to prom- 
ise their successful introduction here. 

The California Land-dresser : a Steam Locomotive. — The ti-action 
steam plough in common use in England has been alluded to as well as 
the adaptability of our lands to its use. AU efforts to make a steam 
locomotive plough failed there. Eotary diggers have not succeeded, 
and it appears to be reserved for California to bring forth an entire 
new machinery; not to plough, but, still better, to dress the land — to 
make it as if it were spaded and finely raked, and to be operated by a 
locomotive steam engine. 

Ploughing simply cuts a slice of land and turns it over without 
much breaking its compactness. The harrow scarifies the new surface 



AGEICDLTUEE. 377 

superficially and covers the seed imperfectly. Rolling makes smootk 
the top, but it also compacts the soil and lessens its permeability. The 
land-dresser does not slice and turn over, but it cuts up, tears to pieces, 
shakes the earth from all grass and weeds, and leaves the field one even 
sheet of finely pulverized earth, as if it had all been spaded and passed 
through a grinding mill. If seed be sown on the hard surface in 
advance, the land-dresser will cover it up completely and leave it in 
a soil so loose and so fine that the grain takes at once deep root and 
secures the greatest vigor of growth. In our climate this condition of 
the soil and of deep rooting, will enable the plant to thrive with less 
spring rain; and in this mode of covering, twenty per cent, more plants 
will be gro'wn on an acre. 

The land-dresser has bad two public trials in adobe (stiff clay) soil 
never before opened, and the same was wet and covered with herbage; 
so that the principle was well tested. The California land-dresser may 
be described for popular comprehension as follows : The locomotive 
engine and frame were not made for the purpose, and this description 
is confined to what belongs exclusively to the machine itself; premising 
that there are in front two low and broad wheels, with a steering gear. 
Attached to the rear end of the car is a frame of wood into which are 
inserted four separated shafts, revolved by beveled cog-wheels, and 
each one in a direction opposite to its neighbor. In the bottom of each 
shaft are four horizontal arms; to the end of each is fixed perpendicu- 
larly four knives, each made like the coulter of an ordinary plough. 
There are two great wheels that operate the revolving shafts and bear 
up the rear of the car. They are each eight feet high and thirty-four 
inches face, giving in all five and two-thirds feet bearing on the land. 
The space between the wheels is required for the works of the ma- 
chinery. The car goes forward one hundred feet a minute, and the 
coulter blades, penetrating the soil as the guage may limit it, revolve 
horizontally, making one hundred and forty revolutions a minute. The 
effect is exactly like so many augurs boring holes in a plank. In one 
minute a plank, twelve feet wide, say six inches thick, and one hundred 
feet long, may be conceived as turned into fine saw-dust, which occu- 
pies exactly the place where the plank was. There is this difference : the 
augur moves only on a fixed center, and cuts out circular slices. But 
the coulter knives are moving forward with great velocity, cutting an 
inch at a slice ; every atom is cut up into powder, and every root is 
divested of its soU. It leaves behind it, if it is wet clay, a smooth 
bed of mud ; it is evident that if dry, it would be a bed of fine, ash- 
like earth. Each set of coulter-knives cuts a circle of three feet, and 



378 THE natueaij wealth of califoenia. 

tlie four sets dress a 'widtli of twelve feet. Tlie movement is very 
like a steam propeller whirling througli the water. It scatters the 
earth in spray, as though it were water. Each circle cuts into the cir- 
cle adjoining, so as to leave no ridge standing ; and each circle revolves 
in a direction opposite to its neighbors, so that there is no tendency to 
cant towards one side. Ordinary field stones are tossed about, and do 
not interfere. To guard against a fracture of the knives by larger 
obstructions, there is mechanism which relieves the knives in such 
cases. This was not attached on the trials made, and one circle of 
knives was broken by a boulder. 

The principle of the horizontal cutters has certainly proved correct, 
and the execution shows how greatly superior it is to ploughing. It 
only remains to be further proven by extended trials if the machine has 
any unlooked for defects which may lessen its value. The working is 
so simple that one cannot conceive of any difficulty, unless it may arise 
from the speed that is given — one hundred and forty revolutions a 
minute to the ground cutters. The solid earth is shaken, as it were, 
instantly into dust. Certainly, no machinery, or series of machines, 
before applied to the dressing of soil, ever produced work at all com- 
parable to this. It is not yet known what weight of machinery will be 
found necessary — but five to six tons, probably. It is intended to move 
over undulating land, and on hill sides of certain gradients. It appears 
as if it would dress thirty to forty acres a day. Should its success 
prove complete, grain can be raised at less than half its present cost; 
and twenty per cent more yield is a moderate estimate. It will relieve 
the farmer of his hardest toil, and it will open a new era and brilliant 
future to agriculture as a profitable industry. 

The inventors of the California Land Dresser are Messrs. Coffin & 
Standish, of Martinez. The probable cost may be $10, 000 at the high 
rates current here. The land-dressing frame can be removed, and any 
other agricultural machinery attached ; so that harvesting and thresh- 
ing can be done also. It will be easy for farmers to associate in the 
purchase of such a machine, and readily arrive at the comparative cost 
with horse ploughing. But the greatest gain will be found iii the 
refined work it does, and the recuperation of our overtasked and unma- 
nured soils, by going deeper, and giving renewed Aigor to the growth. 
As will be shown, in speaking of irrigation, soil so pulverized as not to 
pack hard in the season, will keep moist in summer by reason of the 
capillary conduction it keeps open for the ascent of the subterranean 
waters. In many seasons, like the drought of 1864, this wciild save 
the crop from destruction. 



AGEICCITUBE. 



379 



Plougliing is usually done here after the first full rains of November; 
"but often it is interruiDted by orer-wet seasons. The land-dresser could 
do its work all summer, so that operations need not be hastened, and 
the benefit claimed for summer fallowing may be realized, if, indeed, 
tliis system of dressing will not supercede its benefits. It may be sug- 
gested that the steam power of the machine might be greatly dimin- 
ished, and its liability to fracture lessened also, if the arms which 
carry the knives were shortened so as to cut a circle of one half the 
diameter. 

nOlICxATION. 

Except in a very small way, as in the arid plain of Los Angeles, 
and in Yolo county, there is no extended system of irrigation in this 
State. Cultiyation is confined chiefly to places and to crops which do 
not need it. The various cereals mature so early in summer (June) 
that with a few showers in March, besides the usual rains from Novem- 
ber to that month, the crop is secure. The weight of the crop is, how- 
ever, determined in great measure by the later rains. Heretofore the 
practice has been in setting out trees and vines to em^jloy summer 
irrigation for the first year or two, after which it is generally dispensed 
with. In cases where water has not been conveniently obtainable, 
this aid has been entirely dispensed with. There is, however, a vast 
expanse of steppe land lying eaSt of the great valleys, and rising in 
plateaus towards the steeper hills of the mining districts, that are at 
present of small account, but which could be made valuable by irriga- 
tion. On these plains and rolling prairies the drought parches every- 
thing. Even drinking water lies at great depths, is scant, and of bad 
flavor. The soil is thin, yet every acre can be supplied with flowing 
water by a proper system. 

California is well situated for a grand, economic, and thorough 
system of irrigation. The great snow-covered Nevadas, rising seven 
thousand feet above the plains, run nearly the length of the State, and 
command the whole western sloj)e with the means of ample irrigation. 
Great lakes of supply lie on the high ranges, having fine depth, and 
snow remains there all summer, melting under a fervid sun. There 
is reason to believe also that there are much larger bodies of water 
preserved under ground than above. Sufficient water to inundate 
all the present cultivated fields and orchards is now drawn from these 
mountain sources for mining purposes, millions of dollars haviag 
been invested in large ditches, often hundreds of miles long. Their 
only iise now is to desolate the land, to break down and wash away 
thousands of acres of rich soil annually to get the gold it contains. 



380 THE NATUEjIL wealth of CUvIFOENIA. 

"Whatever present value it wins, it must be at last a loss to tlie State, 
for the land is forever destroyed. But, from these pioneer waterworks 
we have complete engineering for a system of future agricultural irri- 
gation, that will at no distant day sticceed them, and perhaps compen- 
sate for their terrible devastation, by doubling the production of a 
far more extended area of land below. Artesian water, judging by 
past experience, seems to be plentiful in all the valleys that lie embo- 
somed amid broad and lofty mountains, which supply water to the 
channels that in California lie deep below the surface; and to reach 
them, by boring one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet, is not so 
expensive as in most other countries. 

Allusion is made elsewhere to the absence of creeks and brooks. 
They are everywhere to be found in winter rain-time, but in summer 
only their stony beds are seen, or mere threads of water. 

The sources of water supply in California are nevertheless fully 
equal to those of other coTintries, and if they have no vent on the sur- 
face they must have it below the surface. Evidently this is a provision 
of nature to meet the exigencies of our summer drought. The same 
streams and lakes that in other lands will better bear evaporation, are 
here culverted over and put out of the way of absorption by our six 
months of continuous sunshine. And thus a bountiful supply of water 
is reserved for all who take means to bring it forth as it is needed. 
Besides, the soil of California as a rule has a peculiarly open system 
of pores, and the rocky measures lie mostly at steeper grades than 
elsewhere, so that there is a free upward movement of water attracted 
by the dry atmosphere, wherever the surface soil is kept loose enough 
to give it vent. Evidence of this is given in two ways. On our hills, 
so dry to the eyes, grape vines, fruit trees, forest trees, bunch grass, 
and a dense mass of bushy shrubbery flourish during the entire six 
months of baking and burning simimer sun, evidently by the water 
supplied to the roots from below. 

Another curious proof is this : our dry season begins, say, May 1st, 
and lasts tUl about November. In all reasoning we should expect that 
the earth, and its springs, and all that grows upon it would continue 
to become more dry, and each month more exhaustive than the preced- 
ing, tdl the first rain arrives and brings relief. But it is not so ; the 
driest time is in August. About the middle of that month the springs 
begin to rise, and fountains of hill-side waters, previously dry, soon 
after commence to flow again. "S^Tiatever the cause, it is certain that 
the same thing occurs in the water supply to the roots of plants. This 
is their salvation, and but for this provision the gi-ass and all slightly 



AGEICDITUEE. 381 

rooted herbage would Tvitlier and perisli. The explanation of this 
interesting phenomenon is presumed to be as follows : solar evapora- 
tion grows less, because of the shortening hours of day in August, and 
as the relief of night time becomes greater, the ascending vapors from 
the subteranean waters are checked and held in suspension, gradually 
condensing till, at the surface, they meet the cool night air of this 
climate and become water. Now, this process regularly gives increased 
supplies of moisture to the plant, and the process must also at all 
times, before August, be one that increases by night the water supply 
to the trees. 

When this law is understood by the owners of vineyards and or- 
chards, located on the hill-sides of porous ground, and even on high 
summits, they will find that keeping the soil loose will give better and 
healthier watering to the roots than artificial irrigation from the sur- 
face. If these premises are right. Nature's arrangement of the roots 
should not be disturbed by transplanting. 

The foregoing remarks are intended to apply to ordinary seasons, 
when winter rains suffice ; but there are extraordinary seasons in Cali- 
fornia, when the rain-fall is so scant that no crops are obtained ; and 
there have been seasons when the rains of March and the showers of 
April Avere so scant that our grass and grain crops were much de- 
pressed below the usual standard. Our agriculturists have experienced 
so few of these lessons that there has been no popular awakening to the 
danger to be apprehended. Some thoughtful men, after a season of 
failure, pressed upon the farmers of Tolo county a cheap and efficient 
plan to secure ample irrigation for one hundred thousand acres of rich 
wheat land by the waters of Cache creek. Wherever irrigation is 
provided it will insure thirty-five instead of twenty bushels of wheat 
per acre in an average of years. It will give summer crops of many 
other productions, such as flax, sugar-beets, rice, cotton and tobacco, 
and would save the State from the terrible visitation of famine seasons 
— ^which are certain to come; besides, if there were such means to ren- 
der farming more sure and farm homes more attractive, there is no 
country to which people, not farmers, would so flock for its health, its 
comfort, and its easy means of livelihood. As far as practicable, emi- 
grants should seek to secure farms which can command the means of 
irrigation when it becomes necessary or desirable ; but it would be well 
also to select lands which, in years of ordinary rain-fall, will not require 
artificial watering. 



382 THE NATUE.VL WEAXTH OF CALIEORNilA. 



UNDER DKAINING. 

In every season of full rainfall, as in 1866-7 and in 1867-8, the water 
forms lagoons over thousands of acres of the most fertile land in the 
State, rotting the growing grain. What is lost would often have made 
a drain of permanent prevention. In England under-drainage is uni- 
versal, and it nearly doubles the profits of all agriculture. Tiles and 
drain-ploughs are used there to cheapen the process. A drain thus 
made is perpetual. A farmer of Santa Clara county has forty acres now 
drained. It is a stiff gravelly loam, with a subsoil of white marly clay. 
Though very rich, the drowning has hitherto made it improduetive. 
Now it is drained. Instead of a lagoon, slow to dry, and when dry 
coated with alkali, he has a field that is quicldy ready for the plough 
after rain ; the soil is friable and the alkali drains off. 

Fruitful as our country is, and more than other lands equable in its 
production, there have been, and there will be, occasional years of 
famine to cattle, and scanty food for man. Within nineteen years there 
have been three such seasons. In 1856 there was terrible loss of stock. 
In 1862-3 the pasture did not respond to the winter rains, by reason of 
the cool atmosphere — the stubble had been burned in many places and 
the straw, as usual, consumed by fire, to get rid of it. Had the latter 
been preserved it would have saved the stock from the terrible destruc- 
tion that followed. In 1864 there was so scant a fall of rain that all 
crops failed, cattle famished, and dire distress and high prices pre- 
vailed in many places. 

In some localities the grasshopper and the army caterpillar have 
occasionally eaten up every green thing; and such visitations may be 
expected in the future. It may hereafter be found expedient to make 
some provision for feeding stock in winters of extreme severity, as well 
as in seasons of famine. If there be fair winter rains, cattle fatten from 
early spring to midsummer, (March to mid-July); from that time till 
rain comes they have scant XDickings, and always at the expense of their 
flesh. Their hardest time is in November and December; the dry sum- 
mer pasturage being rotted down, and the new grass unfit for cropping. 
January is sometimes as bad, when a cold spell comes to retard the 
gi'owth of the sprouted herbage ; but February is usually good for pas- 
ture. 

liATE EAINS. 

It may be supposed that a good rain in summer would be hailed a 
blessing. Far from it. Nothing would be more disastrous. Every- 



AGEICULTUEE. 383 

tiling seems to be arranged in the order of Nature, to suit the long 
period of our drought. By reason of the manner of growth all seeds 
hold firmly to the containing envelope, instead of shelling out as else- 
where. All grasses that dry standing cure like hay, and carry their 
usual nutriment which they retain on the field till the first rain. The 
rain loosens the capsule, casts out the seed and rots the grass-hay 
beyond resuscitation — since it would not suffice to make new pasture 
from the seed, with one or even several showers;- — nor could it, even 
then, survive the arid sun and the newly baked surface soil. All cattle 
would inevitably perish; for the summer feed, prepared expressly for'a 
long dry season, would be entirely destroyed, leaving not a tuft behind. 
It may be thought that irrigating in summer would be a relief to the 
tree and the vine, even if not really necessary. But it is not so. When 
summer water is given to the plant, it closes the surface pores of the 
soil by a baked paste, and the connection is broken off between the 
subterranean waters and the dry atmosphere. The waters then cease 
to be drawn upwards, and the roots suffer or perish. The only remedy 
is to break up the baked surface and re-establish the connection. If 
irrigation is employed it is necessary to continue it, for the natural and 
the artificial in this case are antagonistic. 

THE FAEMEK'S I'EOtTBLES HT CALrFOBNIA. 

The vast plains of rich soil that chiefly attract the farmer are tree- 
less. The forests are far away in the mountains, and transportation is 
very expensive. Farmers in the western Atlantic States will understand 
this, for the same objection exists to their prairie lands. California 
cattle men have had, so far, the free range of all unfenced lands, and 
the cost of fencing out their stock is so great that fences are usually so 
light as to prove an imperfect protection. In selecting land this should 
be a matter of inquiry. 

At the present session of the Legislature of California a great press- 
ure is being made from the farming interest, asking the repeal of all 
lgiws requiring farmers to fence out trespassing cattle, and demanding 
that, instead, the owners of stock shall fence their cattle in or herd 
them, and that they be responsible for damages if they allow them to 
plunder their neighbor's crops. This would relieve the farmers of a 
burdensome annual tax, and would greatly extend the area of cultiva- 
tion. Nothing better could be done to attract immigration. The farm- 
ing interest, now, far outweighs the cattle raisers, and this fact, added to 
the great desire to draw immigration, may cause the repeal of the pres- 
ent fence laws. 



384 THE NATTJKAIi 'WEALTH OF C^VLIFOENIA. 

Gophers abound almost everywhere. They live under ground, and 
feed upon the roots of trees and vegetables, and their multiplication 
is enormous. They do little or no injury to the grain fields, but in the 
gardens, in orchards, and shrubberies they are very destructive, cutting 
off the roots and killing the plants. It is necessary to be very vigi- 
lant to prevent their depredations. Ingenious devices are numerous 
for catching gophers, and poison is extensively employed. Ground 
squirrels, which also live under ground, but feed on the surface, 
are destructive pests in certain localities. They are not so generally 
distributed as gophers, but they rob the grain fields. The only sen- 
sible relief comes from poison and chiefly from the winter rains, 
which, when sufiicient to damage the crops, also sometimes drown the 
squirrels in their subterranean lodges by millions. But for this occa- 
sional grand slaughter, their vast increase would make the country 
they infest almost vininhabitable. These squirrels usually live in com- 
munities, dwelling in burrows which they often share with the rattle- 
snake and a species of small owl, the whole living together harmo- 
niously. The spots usually selected for these burrows are where the 
ground swells into little knolls, a sandy soil being preferred, these con- 
ditions affording some protection against overflow or excessive rains. 
Sometimes these squirrels are solitary, living apart instead of inhabit- 
ing these villages, which are not unlike those of the prairie dog. 

HINTS TO THE IMMICEAlirT. 

The immigrant will meet with some difficulty in seeking a location 
for a settlement in California of which he should be advised. We 
have only two navigable rivers and but few railroads completed as yet. 
Several new railroads are projected, however, and will probably soon 
be constructed through a number of fertile valleys. The cost of rail- 
way traveling is ten cents a mile, and steamboat fare is generally five 
cents per mile. On all the stage lines twenty cents per mile is the usual 
fare, except when an occasional opposition reduces it for a short time. 
Distances are great between settlements, and the cost of living is toler- 
ably high. To get suitable land at low price requires considerable 
travel by stage. On this account the immigrant, to save his purse, 
should take counsel of some trusted friend, and confine his examina- 
tion to a few localities. 

Farmers in the Atlantic States naturally prefer the neighborhood 
of a river or at least of a running brook. We have but two streams 
worthy the name of rivers properly so called — the Sacramento and its 
confluent, the San Joaquin. The lands on their borders are almost 



AGEICDLTUEE. 385 

entirely swamp, or subject to overflow. Tliey breed fevers and mos- 
quitoes, and have few tributaries tliat are not dry or nearly so in sum- 
mer, and also are subject to wide overflow in winter. As a general 
rule, the immigrant will find it safer to seek other localities than those 
near the water courses. Almost everywhere in the valleys water ia 
obtained at moderate depths, and wind-mills can be readily employed. 
This suffices for the family, the cattle, and the gardens of the farmer. 
His grain crops do not need summer water, nor do his fruit trees when 
once well rooted. 

CONTEASTS. 

The farmer's life in California is unlike that of the Atlantic States. 
The long summer's drought creates a vast deal of dust, which is some- 
times very disagreeable. It covers nearly everything around with a 
coating that lasts from May to November, and penetrates every crevice. 
The earth is almost everywhere alkaline, and the dust affects the eyes 
and air passages. Traveling is rendered very unpleasant. Flies and 
mosquitoes prevail. In the rain season the mud is equally uncomfort- 
able, and wagoning is nearly impracticable. Farms are generally 
much larger here than at the East and neighbors are far apart. Good 
water is rare and most of it is alkaline. The absence of barns and the 
small dwelling houses strike the stranger's eye. But, more than all, 
there is an apparent want of comfort, which is, however, incident in a 
measure to all new settlements. This is greatly heightened by the 
absence of shade trees. Scarcely a tree is to be seen in most of our 
broad agricultural plains ; and, intent only on making money, few 
plant trees for shade or ornament. This will change soon, for trees 
can be grown with ease and unexampled rapidity, and now that the 
farmers of California are almost tiniversally in easy circumstances, 
many of them have money to spare for this purpose. 

Groves of trees, ornamental shrubbery and roadside shade, may be 
sprung upon the landscape with magic speed in this climate. Here 
and there are proofs of the sudden changes made in the whole face 
of a neighborhood in this way. San Jose and Santa Clara may be 
given as examples. So that the repellent features spoken of are solely 
owing to our own temporary neglect. 

Eunning brooks and green summer fields we cannot have, but in 
the rainy season, six months of brilliant green covers the whole face 
of Nature, from dale to mountain top. Instead of the snows and 
frozen ground of the Atlantic States, the eye is charmed with the most 
inviting of pictures. This feature, so unlike the Atlantic States, and 
the mildness of the season, which cannot be called winter,, will strike 
25 



386 THE NATOEAIi WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

our readers abroad as a full compensation for all the summer peculiar- 
ities we have fairly stated. 

ADVANTAGES. 

Among tlie minor advantages to farmers, enjoyed in California, a 
few may be mentioned. They are not obliged to work half the season 
of summer to provide food for carrying their stock over winter. They 
save three quarters of the expense of fuel needed in the Atlantic States 
under the present system. They have no cattle stables to clean, no 
manure to cure, haul, and spread. Our mild winters lighten the work 
and exposure of women. Vegetables of every kind can be had fresh 
from the garden all the year, with very trifling shelter for a short time 
in winter. Fruit is and ever will be plenty and cheap. The two latter 
items are great promoters of health as well as economy. Fowls pick 
up their own living all the year. Though the country is bare of trees, 
the new settler may have shade and ornament in four years equal to 
what he is accustomed to expect in seven elsewhere, for tree-growth is 
very rapid, and it has little interruption in winter. His home may 
have flowers trailing around it all the year by very little attention. 
Thus, though at present the settlers give little or no care to such things, 
it is in the power of those who choose, to attach their families to their 
homes, and give them a settled and contented feeling, which the immi- 
grant should study to cultivate. In no other country are the elements 
so favorable to them in this respect. 

PAEM liABOB. 

In no other part of the world do farm laborers receive such liberal 
wages, or fare so well, as in California. "Wherever practicable labor- 
saving machinery is introduced, materially lightening, in many cases, 
the burden of his manual toil. In driving the gang-plough, now com- 
ing rapidly into use, he performs what was before one of the hardest 
services of the farm, with very little physical exertion, being comfort- 
ably seated and riding along, with no other labor than that required to 
guide his team and guage the easily managed machine. The wages of 
a good farm hand are from twenty-five to thirty dollars per month the 
year round, or from fifty to sixty dollars during the harvest season, 
board and lodging included — the former always good, and the latter, 
considering the mildness of the climate, generally comfortable. In 
the principal agricultural districts he is rarely ever pinched vdih. cold, 
though there is much suffering from the excessive heat that prevails in 
the interior and southern portions of the State during summer. In 
the regions adjacent to the coast, however, there is little to complain 



AGEICULTUEE. 387 

of from tlie extremes of climate either Tvay, wliile the whole country- 
may justly be pronounced extremely healthy. 

HABMONT AMONG PEODTTCEES. 

The grain grower, the dairyman, the cattle ranchero, the shepherd, 
the orchardist, the viniculturist, each is ajot to think he extols his own 
pursuit by comparisons unfavorable to all the others. They all com- 
bine to run down the miner ; and the speculator in city lots decries all 
industries as nothing in comparison with his business. The miner 
represents agriculture as a slow and toilsome way to make money; and 
the farmer tells you mining is all a lottery. This is a policy from which 
no profit comes to any one. Every man in California, every lot-owner 
in town, farmer and mechanic, has something to gain by every success 
that can be shown in whatever industry; and everything that he exhibits 
as a failure, is a loss to the general reputation of California's industries, 
a portion of which attaches to his own. Take away agriculture and 
mining would suffer terribly. Close the mines and the farmer's best 
home market would be lost. Eemove both and San Francisco would 
soon lose its present proportions and the great prospects ahead. 



YINICULTUEE. 

If there be any one vegetable growth which more than any other finds 
a congenial home over hill and dale and high mountain ranges in Califor- 
nia, and which nearly every one plants, it is the grape vine. So general 
is the distribution that it is not easy to number the vines now growing. 
But there cannot be less than twenty-five millions of vines; and men of 
good judgment say at least thirty millions. Two thirds of these are 
the native Los Angeles grape. It is a good bearer and never fails. Its 
berry is the size of a large musket ball. From this hardy grape are 
made, by varied processes. White Wine of the hock kind, Claret, Port, 
Sherry, Madeira, Champagne, Angelica, and some others. 

Many viniculturists are cultivating foreign grapes of all kinds, aiming 
to make finer varieties of wines that wiU pay them better. The most 
prominent are Black Hamburg — a fine claret maker; Eeisling, for hock 
wine; Chasselas, for light sauterne; Isabella, Catawba, Muscat, Tokay, 
and Tinto. The Zechfenthal is a new variety coming into great favor. 
Every grape is capable of being made into several varieties of wine. 
Catawba is chiefly esteemed to impart boquet to other wines; alone, it 
is rather rank. Thirty to fifty other varieties, now on trial, might be 
enumerated. 



388 THE N.VTLT1.U, 'O'EALTH OF CXLTBOV.'SU.. 

Mr. John Pereira (a Portuguese), at Jamesto-\\Ti, Tuoliimne county, 
has a luxuriant growth of choice vines from the Island of Madeira, 
j-ielding wine of delicious flavor — the leading varieties being Tinto, a 
dark red berry; Malvizia, a large yellow berry; Verdeilho, golden yel- 
low fruit, and the Bualo, also a yellow berry. This gentleman has one 
hundred and sixty acres of hill land in orchard and vineyard. 

In a vineyard at Folsom, there are nearly sixty acres of very choice 
giapes devoted exclusively to making select wines, and a ready market 
is found for twenty thousand gallons annually. ^ 

We mention these vineyards, because their extent shows what is 
being done in wine making in the midst of the mines, and far from 
what are the great wine centers. 

Fully one half our vines are in lowlands, as it was supposed they 
would there stand drought best. This is found to be an error. Every- 
where on the steep hills of the interior the vine grows and thrives with- 
out irrigation. Many have watered, but every year the practice is 
being abandoned as not only unnecessary but harmful to the vigor of 
the vine and to the fine flavor of its wine. Once fairly rooted, the vine 
stands the summer's long drought better than any other plant ; but if 
taught to depend on artificial watering it is divested of its natural 
instinct, which directs it to send down its pump-root to the line of per- 
petual moisture. The superior flavor of mountain wines is tending 
unmistakably to transfer the culture to the cheap and ample ranges in 
which oiu- gold mines are situated. There are three distinct wine dis- 
tricts in California : first, the southern, or Los Angeles, making Port 
and other sweet wines, and white wines of much spirit and little aroma; 
second, the Coast Piange, including Sonoma, Napa, etc., making white 
and red acid wines — Hock, Sauterne, Claret, etc. ; third, the foot-hiUs 
of the Sierra Nevadas, in the gold mining range, including Folsom, 
Sonora, El Dorado, etc., making dry wines of extraordinary bouquet 
and aroma — Sherry, Madeira, Tenerifi'e, etc. ; also. Port and German 
wines, the latter having a high aroma unlike any Pihine wine. 

The average number of vines to an acre is about nine hundred, 
which make generally eight hundred gallons of wine, and twenty of 
brandy from the residue. In France, three hundred gallons of wine, 
and four to five gallons of brandy are made per acre. The predomi- 
nance in Europe is acid ; in California, saccharine matter. In one 
hundred pounds of California must, we have t^-enty-five to forty pounds 
of sugar ; in Europe, fifteen to twentj^ pounds. 

In California no doctoring is done, no flavoring, no coloring, no 
sv/eetening; but some brandy is added from the same gi-ape to some of 



AGPJCULTUEE. 389 

the sweet wines. Nothing can be procured for adulteration that will 
not cost more than the pure juice of the grape. So that all dealers 
and consumers abroad may be quite sure that wiae leayes California 
iu perfect purity. 

The product of California wine for 1866 was about 2,500,000 gal- 
lons, and brandy 150,000 gallons. For 1867, it is estimated at 4,000,- 
000 gallons of wine and 400,000 of brandy, the reduction of the excise 
tax having increased the production of brandy. 

Grapes are usually bought by the wine maker, and delivered at his 
press clean for seventy-five cents per one hiindred pounds. In on© 
thousand pounds scarcely one pound of unripe or rotted berries has 
to be cut out from the bunches. It is a great saving of labor over 
what is customary even in most favored places in Europe. Besides, 
it is an earnest of our wines being better, for where a notable propor- 
tion needs such culling, there is much passed to the press as not imper- 
fect enough for rejection which is not perfect. The dealer pays the pro- 
ducer twenty-five to forty cents a gallon for new made wine, without 
packages. There has been no failure of the grape crop in any year 
of our experience ; and vines seventy years old at the Mission vine- 
yards are healthy and fruitful as ever. 

The vine suffers nothing from elemental disturbances. It is not 
mildewed nor storm-stripped; nor does it need leaf -pulling to give sun 
to ripen the grapes. Stakes are used but a short time; soon the vine 
acquires great size of stem and stakes are dispensed with. In appear- 
ance, the vine in fruit is like an umbrella opened out. The vine disr 
eases of Europe are not known here. But a microscopic grasshopper, 
heretofore infesting the alfilerilla grass, has in some localities, as at 
Cache creek and Sonoma, begun to leave the grass as it dies and to 
take to the vine, resting by dayunder the leaf, and at night feeding on 
the upper side. It destroys the bearing power, and must finish the 
vine at last if no remedy be found. It is yet not so much known as to 
arouse invention to seek for remedies. Spring frosts seldom affect the 
vine here. Manure is not used. The soil is almost everywhere strong 
in the elements required by the vine — it being more or less volcanic, 
especially in the foot-hills. In the third year the vine begins to be 
profitable, and in the sixth and seventh year it becomes a strong 
bearer, needing no attention for winter protection. 

Wine matures fast in this dry, warm, evaporating air, and in three 
years it has the age of eight years in Europe. Dealers usually hold it 
till the third year before tapping it for sale. The wines of California 



390 THE NATUEAi WTIAITH OF CALEFOKNIA. 

liave so little free acid that they are easily preserved. The planting 
of Tines has run far ahead of the wine-making facilities. 

Four fifths of the wine of California is consumed in this oonntiy, 
and this does not pay enough to encourage the desired expansion of 
Tvine factories just yet ; but eyerything is promising us a large export 
demand, which, in fact, has already set in. However superior our 
wines, their unaccustomed taste demands time to induce a change and 
for a new flavor to obtain preference. Considering this very great 
difficulty in the way of progress, the California ■wines are gaining 
favor with unexampled speed, which ought to satisfy us. 

The white wine or hock of Los Angeles and Sonoma has very much 
the largest sale East. Germans and other Europeans are also showing 
a preference for it. The yearly sale is five hundred thousand gallons 
now, and it is increasing full thirty per cent, annually. It is a decided 
success, and the broad base now established is reliable for permanence. 
The price is highly remunerative. 

Port wine, from the foot-hills back of Los Angeles, and from the 
Mission grape, has also found great favor, and the sales in New York 
for 1867 amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand gallons, at pay- 
ing rates. This wine suits the American taste, takes well in Canada, 
and orders for it come to New Tork from Denmark and North Ger- 
many. Eussia has not been tried, but they who best know the taste 
of that country, are quite confident of its success there. London 
dealers pronounce favorably, and an eminent house offers a good pay- 
ing price if San Francisco parties will send not less than two thousand 
pipes a year and give exclusive control. It is pronounced fully equal 
to good Oporto, and at five years old equal to eight there. 

It may be noted that there is a very great difference in oui- port 
wines. In many localities the grape is not as saccharine as it should 
be for a sweet wine, and in some places the spirit in the wine greatly 
exceeds the ordinary standard. All this will soon require distinct 
brands. 

The wine third in demand is Angelica, the sales in New York now 
reaching eighty thousand gallons yearly, and increasing very fast. It 
should be understood that this is not confectioned, a small quantity of 
brandy from the same grape merely being added. 

The fourth in order of sale is sherry, and it bids fair to grow in 
favor. The fifth is sparkling champagne, and from the excellence 
this wine has attained in the experiments already largely made, wo 
have no doubt a brilliant success awaits it. Dealers are making ready 
for a greatly extended market. The sixth and seventh in order are 



AGBICTILTUBE. 391 

muscat and claret. They are good wines, but not yet sufficiently tested 
in the Eastern markets. Many varieties of exceedingly rare kinds 
giye also assurance of their finding favor vs^henever made known. 

The wines of California most resemble those of Spain, Hungary, 
Greece, and Cape Constantia, rather than those of France, Italy, and 
Germany. But we shall not probably make oiir best wines till we cease 
to strive for foreign imitations, and strike out boldly for the manu- 
facture of new kinds of wines, which will better bring out the excel- 
lencies with which Nature has no doubt enriched the grape in tliis 
peculiar climate. 

California wines, at the French Exposition, attracted the admiration 
of the jurors. Their judgment was that they are so unlike wines of 
known European brands as to render comparison difficult ; but they 
were struck with their fine fruity flavor, their rich body, and the ripe- 
ness attained in so short a time. They expressed an idea that, judg- 
ing by the merits of our production, and our inexperience, with 
elements so fine as our grapes possess, that we must soon succeed in 
rivalling the wines of Spain, Hungary and Germany. "We have the 
judgment of the people of Chicago on the dry wines from El Dorado 
county still more decided, for they are taking all that are sent to them. 

TO EIPEN ASD PBESEETE WIirE. 

In the days of Pliny the Eomans used to subject their wines to a 
warm bath. A French expert reports to his government that, by im- 
mersing wine in bottles in a water bath of 130° for a short time, the 
miuute vegetable fungus that generates acid is destroyed, the wine 
mellows immediately, as if it had age, and its condition is preserved 
indefinitely. 

Our brandy has already won decided favor, and, judged by the stand- 
ard of taste in New York, it is superior to Eochelle, and may in time 
supplant all French brandies. The orders and prices for 1868 indicate 
an export demand for one hundred thousand gallons. New brandy is 
taken by dealers here at II. 50 to $2 a gallon — excise tax paid. 

We have said enough to show that the viniculturist of California has 
good prospects before him — but he is not, as yet, making much money. 
He has planted too fast. His vineyard is growing more valuable by 
the steady development of his plants, and, from the way our wines and 
brandies are taking the market, it will not be long before capital wiU 
feel encouraged to put up central wine manufactories and vaults that 
wUl use up the vast crop of grapes now being produced. Already there 



392 THE NATOEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOKNIA. 

are some Mane vaults in San Francisco containing eacli over a million 
gallons of wine ripening. 

It -would probably be better for new comers to buy vineyards already 
growing, and go into farming as an adjunct at present. It is not tbe 
case here as in France and Germany, where twelve to twenty acres of 
vineyard are considered a rich heritage, though it may be so a few years 
hence. A small amount of money will buy such a vineyard here at 
this time. We have presented facts sufficient to show that wine can 
be made cheaper in California than elsewhere, and probably of better 
quality; and it is fair to presume that within the next three years there 
wiU be a great advance in vineyard property. 

WDTB MEBCHAKT3 OP SAN FBANCISCO. 

One of the most prominent dealers is the pioneer house of Kohler 
& Frohling. They have also a house in New York, (Perkins, Stern & 
Co.,) and also agencies in Boston and Chicago for the sale of their 
wines. This house embarked in the business in 1854, and by persever- 
ing against great difficulties has now established a reputation and a 
business that is likely to become very profitable. They are success- 
fully extending the preference for California wines far and wide. The 
article procured of them may be depended on for purity, as they do not 
adulterate at all. They have one million five hundred thousand gallons 
of pure California wine in their vaults in San Francisco. Mr. Kohler, 
of this firm, has been styled the Longworth of the Pacific. 

The Buenavista Vinicultural Society, and I. Landsberger, make a 
specialty of champagne wine, and the quality and purity of their wines 
are now established. M. Piobert of New York represents the former, 
and is also agent of Sansevain Bros, of San Francisco. Jackson & 
"Wetherbee, of the El Dorado Mountain Vineyard, have a house in Chi- 
cago where most of their wines are sold. The Anaheim Company of 
Los Angeles, make excellent wines and have vaults in San Francisco. 
All these houses sell only pure wines, and they are every way reli- 
able. 

There must be in California at this time, including the last vintage, 
at least five million gallons of wine — a fact sufficiently indicating the 
magnitude which commerce in this article is likely to attain in the early 
future. 



ageichltuee. 393 



SILK CULTUEE. 



The mulberry tree thrives wonderfully in onr soil. The State of Cali- 
fornia has offered a premium of two hundred and fifty dollars for every 
five thousand trees, to be paid for when they are two years old, besides 
a premium on cocoons of three hundred dollars for every one hundred 
thousand — the object being to aid silk-making in becoming a fixed 
industry. Enough has been done on a large scale, in difi"erent locali- 
ties, to prove that our mulberry leaves, our silk worms, our climate, 
and the silk we make, excel other silk countries in all these particulars. 
According to the opinions of parties most conversant with the subject, 
the mulberry trees now set out, and growing in this State, number 
about four millions — the production of eggs keeping pace with this 
extensive planting. But the foreign demand for our eggs is becoming 
so large that it threatens to retard the immediate extension of sUk 
making in this State. In France the worms suffer so from disease that 
large orders from that country for our more healthy eggs are constantly 
being filled — a condition of things that promises to last for some time. 
So long as this call is kept up the manufacture of silk must necessarily 
be curtailed, as the selling of the eggs will be found more profitable 
than making the fabric. Italy and Mexico are also sending here for 
eggs — and while these are more healthful, producing more vigorous 
worms, the cocoons of California are also larger than those of other 
countries. The white cocoon worm of Japan, and the yellow of China, 
are found suitable to our climate. 

California has peculiar advantages for silk growing, some of which 
are here presented, since they are so thoroughly proven as to be reli- 
able in every particular. The white and black mulberry, and every 
other kind thrives here. But Mr. L. Prevost, of San Jose, selects the 
mulficaulis, (much-leaved), the white, and particularly the Moretti, (large 
and thick leaves), for the superior silk it makes. In this climate the 
midberry tree displays the same instinct as all other trees, its first 
strong movement being to send down its tap-root to the seat of per- 
manent moisture. It is thought that in seasons of ordinary winter 
rains irrigation will not be necessary — ^without it, the worms will be 
better, and the strength of the silk greater. The mulberry attains a 
growth here in three years equal to five years in France, and the yield 
of leaves is much greater. It throws out a vast exuberance of branches, 
and has such power of recuperation that Mr. Prevost has adopted a 
new plan for gathering the leaves, which saves three fourths of the 
labor required in France, and is a very great improvement to the con- 



394 THE NATUEAL WEAiTn OF CALITOKXIA. 

venience of tliG worm, and in preventing waste of leaves. He does not 
pluck the leaves, but cuts oH' wliole branclies. Tliis gives the worm 
spacious and cleanly feeding-way, keeps the leaves fresh, and saves 
them from being soiled. The tree is not at all injured, when judgment 
is used in limiting the cutting. This is the practice in Japan. 

It will scarcely be credited abroad, but it is a fact, that cuttings 
planted in winter do yield leaves enough in the following summer for 
no mean amount of food suitable for the younger worms. The shoots 
from one year's growth are usually ten to twelve feet long — ^fifteen feet 
often. In three years from the time of planting the cutting, the mul- 
berry tree in this climate is fit for regular cropping. 



Two crops of cocoons are raised in the year, viz., in May and July, 
the whole process requiring six weeks. Artificial heat is not needed. 
There are no interruptions in this climate from thunder storms, or wet 
and cold spells, which kill so many worms in Europe, shorten the pro- 
duction, and injure the silk. For upon the iinbroken continuity of the 
process depend the amount and the quality of the silk the worms make. 
Nothing does more damage to quality than cold checks. They are like 
cold nights upon cotton, making the fibre short and brittle. 

The use of kilns for destroying the insect in the cocoon is dispensed 
"with here, the summer sun sufficing. The cocoons are placed in 
troughs with a glass covering, and exposed for two or three days, which 
is effectual. 

Of all industries, the rearing of worms and reeling silk from the 
cocoon is the most simple, the least laborious, and least monotonous. 
It requires in the climate of California the smallest outlay for shelter 
and for starting. The worm has no diseases, there are no wet spells 
to injure the leaf, and no cold snaps to check and mar the work. 
Land here is cheap, and growth is so exuberant that there is no 
incentive to push the tree into unhealthy bearing, the result of which 
•has been so fatal to the worm and the silk in France. 

The extraordinary advantages of our climate have attracted the 
attention of silk men in Europe, and we are advised that the immigra- 
tion of such persons in considerable numbers is probable. Everything 
points to a very early expansion of silk making here, and it is quite 
clear that California is destined to be one of the foremost manufac- 
turers of silk fabrics for the consumption of the world. 



AGEICULTUHE. . 395 

DISEASES OE SILK 'WOEMS. 

As yet there are no diseases in the cocooneries of California. The 
only pest is ants, which attack and destroy the worms, but they are 
readily avoided, by keeping the legs of the stands in water. But in 
order not to be led into French errors, which have bred disease, it 
may be well to mention the cause of its introduction in France. 

Firstly : A system has been pursued there for some years, under 
the guide of science, of forcing the trees ' ' to give all their vital powers 
to the production of greater leafage. " This is done by just such arti- 
ficial substitution for the natural law of gi'owth as is applied to grape 
culture. Pruning knives and close stripping of the leaves have wrought 
the mischief. So, likewise, depending solely on varieties which make 
greater weight of leaf, not sufficiently regarding the health and quality 
of the food nor the strength of silk it makes. 

Secondly: Selecting eggs from the biggest cocoons only, year after 
year. The law is the same for all living organisms. The silk worms 
of France have lost their vigor — they can no longer stand a thunder 
storm — they cannot clear the silt they spin of the surplus silicious 
matter, which in delicate humanity cumbers the kidneys and is an 
obstacle to every fimetion of the bodily organs. This is the cause of 
the "cutting" of modern silk fabrics, and the absence of the enduring 
silk dress goods of former times. 



CHAPTER VI. 

GEOLOGY.* 

General Outlines of Topography — Geology of Coast Eanges— Monte Diablo Eange — Cool 
Beds — Peninsula of San Francisco — Nortli of San Francisco Bay — South of Monterey 
Bay — Southern End of Tulare Valley — Geology of the Sierra Nevada— The Great Auri- 
ferous Belt — Southern portion of the Gold Field —Mariposa County — The Fremont Grant 
— Mining— Tuolumne County — Table Mountains— FossU Kemains — Calaveras County — 
tJnion Copper Mine— Gold Mining— Amador County— El Dorado County — Placer County 
Nevada County — Sierra County — Plumas County. 

The main physical features of tlie State of California are so prom- 
ineut, and arranged upon so gi-and a scale, tliat a general view of its 
topography is essential to a proper comprehension of its geology. The 
coast line stretches in a northwesterly direction from about the parallel 
of 32° 30', to that of 42° north latitude. It is but little broken up, the 
most marked indentation being the Golden Gate, the outlet of the bay 
of San Francisco. The State has a nearly iiniform width, from east to 
west, of two hundred miles. A great central valley, having its longer 
axis in a direction northwest and southeast — tliat is, parallel with the 
general trend of the coast, is inclosed and bordered by the Sierra 
Nevada mountains on the east, and the Coast Kange on the west. The 
northern end of the valley is formed by the junction of these two moun- 
tain ranges near Shasta City (latitude 40° 35'), and the southern by the 
union of the same, near Tejon Pass (latitude 35°). North and south of 
• these two points it is solely for geological considerations that the line of 
demarcation, between the Sierra and Coast Eanges can be drawn; for, 
topograj)hically, they are one and the same. 

* In the preparation of this chapter the foUowing authorities relative to the geologj- of 
California have been consulted, viz.: Keports of the State Geological Survey: Prof. J. D. 
■\Vhitney; Pacific Railroad Reports ; Geological Eeconnaisance in California: "W. P. Blaie; 
Placers of the Middle Yuba: Prof. B. Silliman; De la Production des Metaux Precieux eu 
Californie: P. Laur; and Proceedings of CaUfornia Academy of Sciences. To the former of 
these, as being the only -work based upon a systematic survey of the State, we desire parti- 
cularly to acknowledge our indebtedness. 



GEOLOGY. 397 

The crest of the Sierra, "wliicli is marked by a long and nearly 
straight liiie of culminating peaks, extends from Mount Shasta to the 
Tehatchaypah Pass, a distance of nearly fiye hundred miles. 

The ascent from the great central valley of California to the summit 
of the Sierra is comparatively easy and gradual, but the eastern slope 
of the chain is bold and abrupt, and forms the western wall of that 
vast sterile tract of country included between the Eocky Mountains on 
the east and the Sierra Nevada on the west, in which are the great 
silver mines of Nevada. 

The Coast Eanges are not so strongly marked by any one line of 
dominant peaks, but form a broad belt of mountains bordering the 
western part of the State, made up of minor ridges having a general 
parallelism of trend to each other and the coast; between which, par- 
ticularly south of the bay of San Francisco, are included long and 
narrow valleys remarkable for their productiveness and salubrity. 

The great central valley, which, with its bordering mountain chains, 
embraces the middle, larger, and by far the most important part of the 
State, is drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. These 
are the main commercial arteries of California; furnishing, as they do, 
the means of rapid and cheap transportation from the coast to the 
interior, both north and south. The former rises in the neighborhood 
of Mount Shasta and flows south, receiving numerous tributaries from 
the east, fed by the melting snows of the Sierra — the latter runs in a 
general northerly direction, having its corresponding affluents from the 
east, and both uniting at a point about midway on the western side of 
the valley, just north of Monte Diablo, discharge their waters success- 
ively into Suisun, San Pablo and San Francisco bays, and from thence 
through the Golden Gate into the ocean. This succession of bays is 
the only break through the Coast Eanges that extends from the great 
central valley to the ocean. 

Our geographical and geological knowledge of the extreme north- 
ern and southern portions of the State is very limited. Both are thinly 
settled, and from natural causes have not received as large a share of 
attention as the middle and great gold producing section. 

Having thus given a general view of the mountain chains, valleys, 
and rivers, we now pass to the consideration of the geological structure 
of the former, and of those facts which bear upon the mineral wealth 
of this wonderfully rich and favored State — a subject that demands 
far more than the limited space at our disposal, but of which the 
most important facts and salient features hitherto ascertained are here 
given. 



398 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENU. 

MONTE DIABLO EANGE. 

Of tlie nnmerous minor mountain ranges wMch together make up 
the broad belt of elevations between the great central valley and the 
ocean, the one which has been most thoroughly studied, and furnished 
by far the greater part of the data upon which conclusions have been 
formed as to the geological age of the others, is the Monte Diablo 
range proper, extending from Suisun Bay on the north to Paso Eoble, 
near Fort Tejon, on the south, a distance of over one hundred and fifty 
miles. To the consideration of the geology of this range, therefore, 
more space is devoted than to that of either of the others ; and, fui-ther, 
because in structure and material it is in a high degree similar to them, 
being constituted of strata of the same geological age, and rocks simi- 
lar in their lithological characters. Its eastern border, along the cen- 
tral valley, is well defined; but on its western side are numerous spurs 
jutting obliquely to the northwest, that form for comparatively short 
distances distinct local mountain ranges, but which are finally merged 
into the more continuous range known as the Monte Diablo, receiving 
its name from its most northern peak, which lies but little north of 
east from the city of San Francisco, about thirty miles distant. 

This mountain, though not as high as others in the chain further 
south, being but 3, 876 feet in elevation, nevertheless, from the compar- 
atively isolated position in which it stands, and the extensive view to 
be obtained from its summit, is its most conspicuous peak. It is also 
especially important on account of the coal beds that occur on its 
northern flank, which are of vast economic value to the State, being 
the only extensive deposits of coal yet discovered within its limits. 

The range, which attains an average elevation of perhaps three 
thousand feet, is marked by depressions occurring at rather short 
intervals, the most important of which is Livermore Pass, a short dis- 
tance south of Monte Diablo, being the lowest (680 feet), and affording 
an easy route for a railroad connecting San Francisco with Sacramento 
— an important link in the future great continental thoroughfare. 
The mountain masses are almost wholly made up of cretaceous and 
tertiary strata, often extensively altered, and presenting instances of 
peculiar local metamorphism. The general trend of the range is 
northwest and southeast, biit the rocks have almost every possible dip 
and strike. Eruptive rock is not a marked feature of the chain, but 
occurs at various points throughout its length. 

Monte Diablo itself is made up of a central mass of metamorphic 
cretaceous rocks covering an area of twenty square miles, surrounded 



GEOLOGY. 399 

and overlaid by unaltered cretaceous strata, upon wHcli rest conform- 
ably the miocene and pliocene divisions of tlie tertiary, tlie eocene 
being apparently wanting. In the examination of the metamorphic 
rocks of Monte Diablo, the passage of cretaceous shales into jaspery 
rock, and of argillaceoiis sand-stones into serpentine, is shown to great 
perfection, and is especially interesting, as these form such a consider- 
able part of the rocks found throughout the Coast Ranges, and as it 
has been the means of identifying the age of rocks in other localities 
in which fossils are wanting or sparingly occur. 

MONTE DIABLO- COAL- BEDS. 

The Monte Diablo coal beds are in the upper limit of the cretace- 
ous, in a ridge on the northern flank of the mountain, and dip at an 
angle of from forty-five to twenty-six degrees to the north, the inclina- 
tion gradually becoming less and less as their course is followed to the 
east and southeast, to the San Joaquin plains. 

The principal mining center is at Somersville and Nortonville, 
(small towns separated by a narrow ridge,) about five miles distant 
from the San Joaquin river, and from eight to nine hundred feet above 
it. The mines at both places are connected with the river by railroads, 
which have been constructed for the cheap and rapid transportation of 
coal to a point of shipment by water, and are somewhat remarkable 
for the necessary high gradients and short curvatures employed. The 
workable beds are two in number, varying in width from thirty to 
fifty inches, and furnish a good article of bituminous, non-caking coal. 
The topography in this vicinity has permitted the mines to be opened 
by tunnels, and comparatively short inclined shafts. The total amount 
of coal shipped from them during the past year, 1867, is stated to 
have been 109,490 tons — 38,168 tons being furnished by the Black 
Diamond Company's mines at NortonviUe. 

Within the past year developments of the same beds have been in 
progress upon the "Eancho de los Meganos," better known as the 
Marsh ranch, at a point six miles east from the mines above men- 
tioned, just within the limits of the eastern foot-hills of Monte Diablo, 
and at an elevation of one hundred and thirty-five feet above the river. 
Here the beds are less inclined, and it is highly probable that fewer 
faults or dislocations will be found in working them in this vicinity than 
at Somersville, where their inclination is steeper and the disturbances 
have been greater. At this point, being at such a small elevation above 
the river, their exploitation involves the sinldng of deep shafts, and the 



400 THE NATUEAL WE.VLTH OF CALLFOENIA. 

removal of considerable quantities of water by pumping — a difficulty 
wbicli siibstantially constructed works and adequate machinery will 
overcome. The limited extent of our coal field renders this new devel- 
opment especially important, and it is probable that before long numer- 
ous collieries will be established east of the principal mines^ which 
have heretofore furnished nearly all the coal shipped from the Monte 
Diablo beds. 

In connection with the coal on the Marsh ranch, an extensive bed 
of superior clay occurs. This furnishes the material for the pottery 
established during the past year, at Antioch, on the San Joaquin river, 
ten miles distant. The success of the enterprise has been even greater 
than was anticipated, and these works are now producing large quanti- 
ties of earthenware, as good, if not better, than that imported from the 
Eastern States, and at a lower price. Fire-brick have also been made 
from this clay, which, it is claimed, are equal in quality to the best 
' ' Stourbridge " brick. 

In this connection it wiU not be out of place to suggest to the com- 
panies interested at Somersville and Nortonville, a combination of 
their interests, and the driving of a tunnel starting from the plains 
bordering the hills, and between them and the Sacramento river, at as 
low a level as possible, and running so as to cut the beds at right 
angles to their strike. Such a tunnel would probably not exceed three 
miles in length, would afford perfect drainage and ventilation for the 
mines, and would materially reduce the cost of their development and 
the extraction of coal. It should be wide enough for a double track 
or tramway. The expense of its maintenance would probably not sur- 
pass, if it should equal, that of two railroads with high grades and 
short curves, while the cost of transportation wotdd be considerably 
diminished. Another most important consideration is the opportunity 
that such a tunnel would afford for working the mines to a greater 
depth than could otherwise be attained. The soft and friable nature 
of the unaltered rocks which overlie the coal beds wotdd render the 
work comparatively inexpensive and easy of execution. 

Analyses of the Monte Diablo coal, made quite early in the history 
of the development of the mines, show it to contain a remarkably small 
percentage of ash and sulphur, but a large amount of water. A marked 
improvement in the quality of the coal since the mines have been opened 
to a greater depth, and these analyses were made, is acknowledged.* 

* An analysis of Monte Diablo coal, from the Pittsburg mine, made in January, 18G7, 
by "W. P. Blate, shows the following result : Water, 3.28 ; bituminous substances, 47.05 ; 
fived carbon, 4490 ; ash, 4.71 ; no sulphur. 



GEOLOGY. 401 

BotK copper (chalcopjrite) and quicksilver (cinnabar) ores have been 
found in tlie metamorpliic cretaceous rocks of Monte Diablo, but neither 
promises to be of future importance, as tbey occur in very irregular 
deposits of limited extent. Northwest, and in the vicinity of Monte 
Diablo, are extensive deposits of travertine or calcareous tufa, consist- 
ing of a very pure carbonate of lime, deposited from water of hot springs 
containing lime in solution, which undoubtedly existed at one time at 
the localities where they occur. The present expense of fuel and trans- 
portation prevents these deposits from being quarried and burned for 
lime. 

SOUTH OF MONTE DIABIiO. 

South of Monte Diablo, a depression in the tertiary hills, and exten- 
sive denudation, owing to the soft and unaltered character of the sand- 
stone, form Livermore Pass. The strata on the east side dip to the 
northeast, and on the west to the southwest. "Within a short distance 
south of this pass deposits of coal, known as the "Corral Hollow" mines, 
occur, and evidences of the approach to another metamorphic center 
are to be seen. The bed or beds attain a greater thickness than at 
Monte Diablo, but are more disturbed, and show numerous faults or 
dislocations. They stand at a high angle, and dip in opposite direc- 
tions within a short distance. Attempts have been made to open these 
mines, but they have thus far proved unsuccessful. The coal here is 
at about the same elevation above tidewater as at the Monte Diablo 
mines. 

From this point, going south to Pacheco Pass, a distance of fifty 
miles, the range rapidly rises, becomes broader and very rough, hav- 
ing many elevated points along it, the highest being Mount Hamilton, 
nearly east of San Jose, 4,443 feet high. The range then decreases in 
height to Pacheco's Pass, the loftiest point of which is 1,470 feet. 
Between Livermore and Pacheco passes the San Pablo hills on the 
east side of the bay, so prominently seen from San Francisco, become 
merged into the main Monte Diablo range. 

South of Corral Hollow, on the eastern side, in the numerous canons 
opening into the San Joaquin valley, the structure of the range is well 
shown. It consists of a center of metamorphic cretaceous rocks, 
flanked by an enormous thickness of unaltered cretaceous strata. The 
latter consist of sandstones, with interstratified shales. A coarse con- 
glomerate, the boulders in which are of metamorphic rock differing 
from that composing the main mass of the mountains, occurs on the 
outer margin of the hills towards the San Joaquin plain. 

These unaltered cretaceous and tertiary strata flank the entire range 
26 



402 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOKNIA. 

on the eastern side, as far north as its junction -with the Sierra Nevada. 
The absence of the tertiary is marked bj the precipitous nature of the 
range where it joins the plains, as opposed to the low rolling hills 
where the tertiary overlies the cretaceous. 

Along the eastern flank, the tertiary, as far as known, rests con- 
formably upon the cretaceous, as at Monte Diablo. The metamorphic 
rocks in this vicinity have the same general characters, being marked 
by jaspers, serpentine, and occasionally mica slate. Their limits are 
well indicated by the growth of forest trees, which is very meager upon 
the hills made up of unaltered strata, they being generally very dry 
and barren. 

At the mouth of Lone Tree Caiion is an ancient terrace underlaid 
by cretaceous shales, and covered with deposits of gravel. The meta- 
morphic center of this range extends south of San Carlos mountain, 
which is nearly the culminating point, and in the broadest part of the 
range — ^its height above tide water being 4,443 feet. 

The simimit of Pacheco's Peak, a little south of east from the town 
of Gilroy, as well as those of other and higher peaks, in a line crossing 
the range obliquely to the southeast, are of trachyte. This is the first 
known occurrence of eruptive rock in the main Monte Diablo Eange 
south of Suisun bay. To the south, the tertiary belt on the eastern side 
appears to widen, and at a point a few miles east of the New Idria 
mine it is believed that the Eocene epoch of that age may be repre- 
sented — which is notable as being, perhaps, the only locality of Eocene 
yet discovered in the State. 

Cinnabar is found at various points in a line extending from San 
Carlos to New Idria, a distance of three miles. The deposits have 
been developed by the New Idi-ia Quicksilver Mining Company, and 
have yielded, and are now producing, a considerable amount of metal. 
The mines are just within the eastern limits of the metamoi-phic 
cretaceous. The rocks are sandstones and slates, in various stages of 
metamorphism. The ore, which is largely intermixed Avith iron pyrites, 
occurs in these rocks in very irregular deposits. 

In Monterey county, on Clear creek, an eastern branch of the San 
Benito — ^which, as is characteristic of the streams throughout the Coast 
Eanges, flows for some distance nearly in the direction of the stratifi- 
cation, then turning abruptly to the west, breaks through the hills in a 
narrow gorge, and joins the San Benito at a point about forty miles 
south of San Juan — are other deposits of cinnabar extending, over a dis- 
tance of two or three miles to Picacho Peak, some ten or twelve miles 
west of San Carlos mountain. This line is marked by very bold and 



GEOLOGY. 403 

massive outcrops of tlie peculiar silicious rock, known tlirougliout tlie 
Coast Kanges as "quicksilver rock." It is often higUy discolored, by 
decomposition of iron pyrites probably, and ti'aversed by veins of pure 
wliite quartz, affording most beautiful specimens of chalcedony, often 
with, most exquisite drusy surfaces of minute quartz crystals. This 
line of outcrops, resembling fortifications, as seen from a distance, 
crowning the summits of the hills, from its durable character has with- 
stood the action which has disintegrated and removed the softer mag- 
nesian rocks which appear to inclose it, bringing them out into bold 
relief. It is understood that developments are now in progress, with, 
however, the doubtful prospect that must ever attend the search for ore 
which occurs in such uncertain and irregular deposits as cinnabar. 
Should they prove successful, the locality is ia every respect favorable 
for its economical reduction in close proximity to the mines, wood and 
water being abundant, conditions that are not as favorable at the New 
Idria mines farther east. 

The San Benito valley is long, narrow, and nearly straight, and 
separates the Gavilan from the main Monte Diablo Eange, for a dis- 
tance of about seventy miles. The stream of the same name has its 
main sources intheir point of union. The rocks occurring along its 
course are generally metamoi-phie and largely magnesian ; frequent 
enormous land slides in the hills bordering the eastern side of the 
valley are seen to have taken place quite recently. During the dry 
season, the stream, which is small, appears only at intervals of ten or 
twelve miles, and the water is strongly alkaline to the taste. Near its 
sources it flows a constant and steady stream of good water. 

Not far from the quicksilver deposits just mentioned, and the San 
Benito river, large masses of chromic iron are found. This ore of 
chromium also occurs between New Idria and San Carlos, in enormous 
masses, and, in fact, led to the discovery of the quicksilver mines. It 
is not unlikely that the San Benito mines are but the extension of the 
New Idria deposits farther east. 

On the Arroyo Joaquin Soto, an eastern branch of the San Benito, 
further north, are enormous deposits of post -tertiary gravel, in some 
places greatly disturbed, even dipping vertically — a fact which is very- 
interesting, as an illustration of how recent and extensive disturbances 
have taken place in the Coast Ranges. Terraces, in one instance five 
in number, are found in this caiion, which Prof. Whitney remarks in 
his report, seem to have been formed by successive elevations rather 
than by gradual erosion at the mouth of the valley. 

The tertiary is more extensively developed on the western than on 



404 THE NATURAL WEiVLTH OF G.VLIFOKXIA. 

the eastern side of the Monte Diablo Eange, towards the north. Tho 
hills bordering the San Jose valley on the £ast belong to this period, 
and are from one thousand to twelve hundred feet in elevation. The 
rocks are highly altered in places. A tertiary ridge extends to the 
northwest, separating San Jose and Calaveras valleys. 

THE COMTEA COSTA HHiLS. 

The Contra Costa hills, so marked a feature of the scenery to be 
observed from San Francisco, are separated from the main Monte 
Diablo Eange, first by the San Eamon, and farther south by Amador val- 
ley, and extend from the Straits of Carquinez to the southeast about 
fifty miles, joining the main range in the vicinity of Mount Hamilton. 
They are made up principally of unaltered cretaceous and tertiary 
strata, though a broad belt of the latter forms the mass of the hills. 
A belt of highly metamorphic rocks, rarely over two miles in width, 
extends from San Pablo to the southeast, a distance of thirty-five 
miles, forming the summits of the highest peaks, 1, 500 to 2, 000 feet in 
elevation, in the vicinity of the pass leading from Oaldand to Lafayette. 
Near Eedwood Peak this belt branches, one fork continuing to the 
southeast, finally vmites with the central metamorphic. mass of Mount 
Hamilton, the other skirting the western slope towards Alameda Caiion, 
where but traces of metamorphism are to be seen. 

The rocks are similar in lithological character to those of Monte 
Diablo, and when metamorphosed, to those of kno^^oi cretaceous strata 
near Martinez, on Suisun Bay, which consist largely of jaspery slates, 
and are marked by the occurrence of serpentine and the silicious fer- 
ruginous rock which occurs throughout the Coast Eanges in connection 
with cinnabar. Chromic iron also occurs in considerable quantity east 
of the town of San Antonio ; and although it has been mined to some 
extent, its present distance from a market would preclude the possi- 
bility of its being profitably worked. 

Unmistakably eruptive rock occurs at points throughout this meta- 
morphic belt, though it is often difficult to distinguish between erup- 
tive and metamoi-pni", on account of the high degree of alteration 
which both have undergone. 

There is but little regularity of strike and dip of the strata forming 
the Contra Costa hills ; in their northern part they form a well defined 
sjTiclinal axis, as is shown by the section given on page 14 of the 
report on Geology of California, and taken between a point on the 
road from Martinez to Pacheco, and the Caiiada del Hambre', in which 



GEOLOGY. 405 

tlie tertiary sandstones are represented as resting conformably upon 
tlie cretaceous. 

In the San Eamon valley are evidences of very recent distui'bances ; 
fissures in tlie soil are said to exist wliicli were formed during tlie 
earthquake wMcli occurred in the month of June, 1861. 

Near Martinez, and for some distance west, along the shores of 
Suisun Bay and the Straits of Carquinez, cretaceous strata are well ex- 
posed, consisting of sandstones and shales, the latter with intercalated 
deposits of argillaceous limestone, varying in thickness, sometimes 
attaining a width of three feet or more. 

The upper limit of these strata is marked by the occurrence of 
sandstones resembling those accompanying the coal beds at Monte 
Diablo, which, though containing much carbonaceous matter, do not 
present indications of a regular coal bed. They are overlaid by the 
tertiary strata, resting conformably upon them, which form the mass of 
the Contra Costa hills. In the tertiary strata, near San Pablo, oil has 
been obtained by boring, though not in sufficient quantity to be of any 
commercial value. North of San Pablo are low hills made up of hori 
zontal post-pliocene strata resting uncomfortably on the edges of the 
tertiary. 

THE PENINSULA OF SAN EEANCISCO. 

This peninsula is marked by a high mountain range extending from 
the Golden Gate southeast as far as the Bay of Monterey, its connec- 
tion with the Gavilan, previously mentioned as a spur of the Monte 
Diablo Eange, being broken by the valley of the Pajaro river, which has 
its lateral branches draining the interior valleys both north and south. 
It is much broken, and cannot properly be called, as it sometimes has 
been, the Santa Cruz Eange, though in Santa Cruz county it attains its 
greatest elevation and broadest development near Mt. Bache, and other 
high peaks in its vicinity. An almost unbroken front of mountains is 
presented towards the ocean, a narrow strip of table land alone inter- 
vening. Along the western shore of the Bay of San Francisco, how- 
ever, is a considerable belt of level land which widens towards the 
south, and joins with the extension of that on the eastern side, forming 
the San Jose valley. 

The geology of the belt of elevated land between the San Jose' val- 
ley, the Bay of San Francisco and the ocean, is very similar to that of 
the Contra Costa hiUs, though it is rendered more complicated by the 
intrusion of granitic rocks. It is composed of the same cretaceous and 
tertiary strata, containing rocks similar in lithological character to 



406 THE NATXJEAX WEALTH OF CALIFOKNIA. 

those of Monte Diablo, wlaicli liave already been mentioned. Fossils 
sparingly occur. A metamorpliic belt extends from Eedwood City to the 
southeast a distance of about forty miles, forming the eastern edge of the 
range and the summits of Mt. Bache, 3, 780 feet in height, and of other 
high points. Limestone, in detached masses, occurs at several places 
throughout this belt ; evidences of what was once, in all probability, a 
continuous limestone belt, are found at various places, from the sum- 
mit of Black mountain, back of Mountain View, to as far south as the 
New Almaden mines, which lie in a ridge northwest of that formed by 
the metamorphic mass of Mounts Bache, Choual, and Umunhum. It is 
to be seen on Los Gatos creek, dipping to the northeast, and is less 
altered there than at other places where it is hard and compact, though 
not ci-ystalline. To the west of the metamorphic belt above mentioned 
is a series of unaltered tertiary strata, forming a broad range of moun- 
tains extending northwest through Santa Cruz into San Mateo county, 
the culminating point of which is Mount Bielawski, 3,269 feet high. 
Southwest of this belt of tertiary, and stretching northwest, nearly to 
Pescadero creek, is a high range of granite hills, at places attaining an 
elevation of 2,900 feet, the relations of which to the adjoining strata 
have not been thoroughly investigated. A mass of gold bearing quartz 
is said to have been found in this range of granite hills, and to have 
yielded quite largely — ^no well defined veins, however, have been traced, 
and the deposits, when they occur, are not likely to prove of permanent 
value. 

Beds of miocene tertiary extend along the coast fi'om Santa Cruz to 
Spanishtown ; these retain their original position along the shore, but 
are disturbed near the granite. The coast is also marked by the occur- 
rence of terraces, indicating recent changes of level, which, though 
broken at intervals, are to be seen throughout the distance from Santa 
Cruz to Pescadero. No eruptive rock is known to occur on the penin- 
sula north of San Mateo. The range becomes depressed as the Gol- 
den Gate is approached, and at the head of the peninsula we have a 
mass of comparatively low hills made up of highly broken and con- 
torted metamorphic cretaceous strata, without any ajsparent regularity 
of strike and dip. The material of Telegrajjh, Eussian and Poincon 
hills, sections of which have been well exposed by excavations involved 
in grading the streets of the city, is an argillaceous sandstone — in 
places highly altered and durable, but generally soft, and disintegrating 
rapidly on exposure to air and moisture. Jaspery rock occurs in the 
outskirts of the city, and has been employed to a considerable extent 
as a ballasting material for roads leading therefrom. A belt of serpen- 



GEOLOGY. 407 

tine extends from Fort Point, by Lone Mountain and Mission Dolores, 
to the Potrero. The peculiar silicious rock generally associated with 
ores of mercury occurs at various j^oints, and in the vicinity of the Mis- 
sion some cinnabar has been found. No building stone of value occurs 
in the immediate vicinity of San Francisco. On Terba Buena Island, in 
the bay, one mile east of the city, the rocks are similar to those of Tel- 
egraph Hill, though a highly altered sandstone, having a trappean 
appearance is exposed on its eastern side in larger masses, or more 
heavily bedded than at the latter locality. This, to some extent, has 
been excavated and used for foundations of buildings in San Francisco, 
and is a good material for concrete intended for sub-aqueous structures; 
its extent, however, is very uncertain, and large quantities of softer ma- 
terial have to be removed in its excavation. A less metamorphosed 
sandstone, often streaked with thin veins of carbonate of lime, is quar- 
ried on Angel Island, north of the city. 

The miocene tertiary is not represented in the vicinity of San Fran- 
cisco, though in the low hills along the sea shore southwest of Merced 
Lake, strata belonging to the pliocene and post-pliocene epochs, which 
are unconformable with each other, are exposed. These also rest 
unconformably upon the metamorphic cretaceous. 

By far the most interesting and important feature of the range 
tmder consideration, is the occurrence of the extensive deposits of cin- 
nabar in the metamorphic cretaceous rocks at the New Almaden mines, 
a few miles southwest of San Jose, and lying in a ridge east of the 
main range, culminating in Mount Bache, the highest points of which 
are about 1,700 feet above tide water. The three mines — the New 
Almaden, Enriquita, and Guadalupe — are ia line extending over a dis- 
tance of about five miles ; the former is by far the most productive. 
The cinnabar occurs in altered slates, inclosed by extensive masses of 
serpentine. The ore is very irregularly distributed, though the metal 
bearing portions seem confined to limited areas dipping with the strata. 
This is but one of the numerous localities throughout the Coast Eanges 
where cinnabar is mined, but thus far is the only one that has been 
worked with very great and continued profit to its owners. 

On the western side of the island called Ked Kock, which rises 
abruptly from the waters of the bay, about eight miles north of San 
Francisco, and attains a height of about 250 feet, there occurs a de- 
posit of oxide of manganese (pyrolusite). This island is almost entirely 
composed of cretaceous jaspery shales. The ore is found, sometimes 
in quite large masses, irregularly distributed throughout a belt over 
one hundred feet in width, extending northwest and southeast across 



408 THE NATUB-iL WEALTH OF CAIIFOENU. 

tlie island, a distance of between six and seven hundred feet. It is 
of excellent quality, containing a high percentage of binoxide, and is 
remarkably free from iron, lime, or other materials for which chlorine 
gas has an affinity. The ore is accompanied by a black, flinty gangue- 
stone, which is likely to be mistaken by the inexperienced eye for it, 
but which is of very much lower specific gravity, and is therefore easily 
sorted. Over two hiiudred tons, containing by analysis from carefully 
averaged samples over seventy per cent, of binoxide, have been shipped 
from this locality to New York, and sold for less than enough to pay 
freight and commissions. Although enormous amounts of bleaching 
powder, or chloride of lime, are consumed, nearly the whole of it is 
imported from England, its extensive manufactui's having been but 
recently commenced in the United States. The demand for it in New 
York city is therefore exceedingly limited. The price of oxide of man- 
ganese in the English market during the past few years has ranged so 
low — extensive deposits having been discovered in Spain, from whence 
that market is supplied, as to preclude the probability of the pecuniary 
success of its being mined here to any considerable extent. The actual 
cost of its delivery at Liverpool will probably exceed its value in that 
market, or at any rate equal it. 

The rapid introduction of the chlorination process in California, for 
the extraction of fine gold from the auriferous sulphurets, will create a 
limited home demand for the article. As an agent for generating 
chlorine for bleaching purposes, the paper manufacturing companies 
would probably find a considerable saving to result from its use. In 
the method at present adopted by them — -the employment of bleaching 
powder — the lime merely serves as a vehicle of transportation for the 
chlorine, which has already been generated by means of oxide of man- 
ganese. Other deposits of pyrolusite occur in the metamorphic cre- 
taceous rocks, but they are apparently of very limited extent, and not 
likely to prove valuable. 

NOBTH OF~THE BAT OF SAN FRANCISCO. 

The valleys included between the Coast Eanges north of the Bay 
of San Erancisco, though numerous, are generally smaller and narrower 
than those to the south of it. The mountain ranges are but a continu- 
ation of those already described, and are made up of rocks of the same 
general character — silicious and jaspery rocks predominating, and 
serpentine occurring in enormous masses, though volcanic rocks and 
materials play a much more important part than in the ranges south of 
Suisun bay. 



GEOLOGY. 409 

Tamalpais, a conspicuous mountain on tlie nortli side of tlie de- 
pression wliicli forms tlie Golden Gate, rises quite abruptly to an ele- 
vation of 2, 597 feet. Its summits, of wHcli there are three, consist of 
metamorphic sandstone, in some places marked by quartz veins having 
a banded structure. Heavy masses of serpentine occur on its western 
and northern slope. A ridge of this material, nearly 2,000 feet high, 
extends several miles to the northwest. A short distance west of the 
town of San Rafael, is a mass of trachyte extending some distance east 
and west. 

Three quarters of a mile southwest of Petaluma, a belt or dyke of 
compact basalt occurs. In places it has a columnar structure, and is 
about two hundred yards in width. It has been used to some extent as 
a building material at Petaluma; its hardness, and the difficulty of 
obtaining stones of large size, render it undesirable for that purpose ; 
but it makes a durable material for ballasting roads, or a concrete for 
submarine construction, this being the most accessible point to the 
city of San Francisco, where such material can be obtained in large 
quantities. Eruptive rocks also occur at points between Petaluma and 
San Eafael, but not as favorably situated for shipment as the basalt 
near Budesill's Landing. 

Between Tomales bay and Petaluma is a line of marked depression. 
In the vicinity of Tomales, the miocene tertiary, undisturbed and rest- 
ing conformably upon the cretaceous, is represented. The belt of 
granite, which occurs on the west side of the peninsula of San Fran- 
cisco, appears at the extremity of Tomales point; at Punta de los Eeyes, 
which is wholly composed of it, and at Bodega Head, farther north. 
Limestone is associated with granite and mica slates at the head of 
Tomales bay, and it is probably the continuation of the belt which 
traverses Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties. 

Mount St. Helena, 4, 343 feet high, at the head of Napa vaUey, is, 
with the single exception of Mt. Hamilton, the highest summit between 
San Carlos to the south and the higher regions to the north. This 
mountain seems to have been the source of the volcanic materials, which 
are spread over a large area of country to the east and southeast of it. 
A belt of eruptive rock extends from the west side of Clear Lake 
through to Suisun Bay. Hot springs, which have an extended repu- 
tation for their curative qualities, are numerous, especially in the 
vicinity of St. Helena, and Clear Lake. North of St. Helena are several 
localities where cinnabar has been found and mined to some extent. 

Perhaps the most important development is in Pojoe Valley, three 
miles northeast of Mt. St. Helena. The rock, an imperfect serpentine, 



410 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEiaA. 

sandstone in tlie process of metamorpliism, is the same as is usually 
associated with the ore. At the Lake mine, about eighteen miles from 
the southern end of Clear Lake, on the Suisim road, the ore is peculiar, 
on account of its association with sulphuret of antimony in acicular 
crystals and granular masses, as well as by reason of the absence of 
the peculiar silicious rock Avith which cinnabar is generally found. It 
is deposited in lenticular masses in cretaceous shales. 

The locality known as the Geysers is half-way between Healdsburg 
and the southern end of Clear Lake. The wild scenery, and the 
phenomena exhibited by the hot springs occurring there, make it an 
attractiye and interesting locality to visit ; but there exists no analogy 
between these and the Geysers of Iceland. The waters hold a Tariety 
of salts in solution, which give rise to numerous chemical reactions 
when waters from different sources are brought in contact, and produce 
vivid colorations of the rocks. These are chiefly sandstones and sili- 
cious slates, the silica of which is thoroughly leached out by hot alka- 
line solutions, and afterwards forms extensive deposits. Considerable 
quantities of sulphur are also deposited by the water from these springs, 
and the deposit known as the Sulphur bank, in the vicinity, may 
prove of future value. 

One of the most interesting and curious portions of the Coast 
Kanges north of the Bay of San Francisco, is that in the neighborhood 
of the southern extremity of Clear Lake. It is in this vicinity that 
the celebrated and productive deposits of borax, or biborate of soda, 
occur beneath the waters of Borax Lake. This is a sheet of shallow 
water, the average depth of which is about three feet, comprising gen- 
erally about one hundred acres in superficial area, but varying gi-eatly 
in size with the seasons, as the shores are low, and their slope towards 
the water is very gradual. The water of the lake is impregnated with 
borax ; analyses of it, made in 1863, show that it contained 2401. 5S 
grains of solid matter to the gallon, about one half of which was com- 
mon salt, one quarter carbonate of soda, and the remainder borate of 
soda, there being 281.48 grains of anhydrous biborate, equal to 535.08 
of crystallized borax to the gallon. A sample taken from the interior 
of a coffer dam, from water percolating through the underlying mud, 
was found to contain a much larger portion of solid matter, but in the 
same proportion as before. The borax being the least soluble of the 
prominent ingredients, has crystallized out, and is found in the mud in 
crystals of various sizes, from two or three inches across, to those of 
microscopic size. That the process is rapid and still going on, is 
shown by the coating of crystals formed upon sticks of wood, Avhich 



GEOLOGY. 411 

have been immersed in tlie waters of the lake for but a short time. 
TLe principal deposit of the crystals is in a layer of blue mud of vary- 
ing thickness, beneath which is mud without them. 

Northeast from Boras Lake, and about a mile distant from it, on 
the borders of Clear Lake, is an extensive deposit of sulphur, where 
solfatara action is yet apparent. The volcanic rocks have been exten- 
sively fissured, and through the orifices and seams, steam and sulphur- 
ous vapors are constantly issuing. A large amount of sulphur has 
been deposited, the extent of which is uncertain, and can only be 
demonstrated by the pick and shovel, though it occurs over an area of 
several acres. The most interesting fact in connection with this de- 
posit is the association of cinnabar with the sulphur, sometimes dis- 
tinctly separated from it, in quartz evidently deposited from solution, 
but often thoroughly intermixed with it. 

Another large deposit of sulphur, about two miles distant, occurs 
on what is locally known as Chalk Mountain, so called from its pecu- 
liarly white appearance, and still another at the Sulphur Springs, 
further east, on the road to Colusa. At neither of these localities does 
the sulphur appear to be contaminated with cinnabar, which marks 
the deposit on Clear Lake. At the latter locality; which j)romises to 
be much more extensive than was at first supposed, a good merchant- 
able article is being produced, in considerable quantities, by simple 
distillation. The rocks at Chalk Mountain are extensively fissured, 
and much decomposed, by the action of steam and acid vapor, giving 
them a white and chalky appearance. The deposit here promises to 
prove extensive, at least large superficial areas of it exist ; how deep 
they will prove, or how large a quantity of sulphur they will yield, is 
of course a matter of uncertainty. Springs yielding carbonated water 
are numerous in the vicinity of Chalk Mountain — it is often very agree- 
able to the taste. 

Volcanic materials and hot springs occur on a line fi'om Clear Lake 
east towards the Sacramento valley — and, as Prof. Whitney remarks, 
there is every evidence of a' transVferse fracture extending from the 
Geysers across the volcanic belt, of which Mt. St. Helena is the culmi- 
nating point, to the Sacramento valley. 

A curious association of gold, cinnabar, and bitumen occurs in 
what is known as the Manzanita tunnel, near Sulphur Springs, on the 
road from Clear Lake to Colusa. Beds of hydraulic limestone occur 
in the cretaceous strata near Benicia ; they occupy a position between 
the sandstones and the shales. 

The beautifully variegated Suisun marble occurs in the sandstones 



412 THE NATURAL WEALTH OP CVLEFORXLV. 

of the Pelevo hills, north of Suisun. It is the deposit of calcareous 
springs, and cannot be obtained in masses of sufficient size to make it 
very important as an ornamental stone. 

gOUTH OF MONTEEEY BAY. 

North of latitude 35° 20' the trend of the mountain chains forming 
the Coast Eanges is quite uniformly northwest and southeast, agreeing 
very closely with that of the coast north of that parallel. South of this 
line, however, we haA^e a very marked change in the direction of the 
coast. On the north side of Santa Barbara channel it runs nearly east 
and west, and near San Luis Obispo we have the northern limit of a 
system of upheavals, in a direction transverse to that which has deter- 
mined the trend of the main Monte Diablo, and other ranges to the 
north. 

The Santa Lucia mountains extend from Carmelo bay, near the 
town of Monterey, southeast in an unbroken line, bordering the coast 
as far as San Luis Obispo, then curving to the east, finally become 
merged into the main Monte Diablo Eange. They form a mass of 
rugged and unexplored mountains, in places over 5, 000 feet in eleva- 
tion. The western slope of the range is peculiarly abrupt and inac- 
cessible. 

The comparatively broad valley of the Salinas river, included 
between the Santa Lucia and Gavilan mountains, stretches to the 
southeast from the Bay of Monterey, a distance of nearly one hundred 
miles. The average breadth of the Santa Liicia range is about eigh- 
teen miles. Granite is known to occur throughout the northern twenty 
or thirty miles. Metamorphic tertiary rocks, and miocene and pliocene 
strata, highly contorted, also occur. 

The Polo Scrito hills, between the valley of the Carmelo river and 
that of the Salinas, and the San Antonio hills further south, are made 
up of the great bituminous slate formation of the tertiary age, which 
extends through California as far north as Cape Mendocino ; above 
which are more recent formations. Portions of the tertiary are highly 
bituminous, and asphaltum is of frequent occurrence. "Well marked 
terraces occiu- on the Salina,s and its branches — the San Antonio and 
Mascimiento rivers. Near San Luis Obispo the range has a fan-like 
structure. Gold has been found in very limited quantities, and, at 
various points, copper stains occur; argentiferous galena is also found, 
but neither is likely to prove of importance — no well defined vera hav- 
ing been seen. 



GEOLOGY. ■ 413 

The islands on the south side of Santa Barbara cliannel appear to 
belong to the east and west system of upheavals, and are probably of 
the same geological age as the Coast Kanges. South of San Luis 
Obispo is a succession of mountain chains, having an easterly trend. 

The Santa Inez Eange commences at Point Concepcion, stretching 
east a distance of over one hundred miles, and joins with mountain 
ranges south of Fort Tejon. East of Santa Barbara it attains an ele- 
vation of about 4,000 feet, but to the west it is lower, and at Gaviote 
Pass it is about 2, 500 feet in height. The western end is composed of 
unaltered tertiary sandstones of miocene age. There the strata dip to 
the south; further east an anticlinal axis is shown, while still further 
east aU the strata dip to the north. 

Near Santa Barbara the sandstone, forming the crest of the chain, 
is overlaid by bituminous shales, which, in the foot-hills, are very 
much broken and contorted. Upon the bituminous shales, resting 
horizontally and unconformably, are pliocene and post pliocene de- 
posits. The bituminous shales are the source of considerable quanti- 
ties of bituminous material — asphaltum and oil occurring at many 
different localities, often filling depressions in superficial deposits; the 
latter is sometimes seen oozing from the shales. 

Two minor ranges, lying between the Santa Lucia and Santa Inez 
chains, are, so far as known, almost wholly made up of tertiary strata 
of miocene and pliocene age, attaining a great thickness. More recent 
deposits in the valleys rest horizontally upon the edges of the upturned 
tertiary. Here also asphaltum and oil are of frequent occurrence. 

In the Santa Susana Eange, which is, as far as known, composed 
of sandstones of tertiary age, upon which rests the bituminous slate 
formation, we have an instance of an enormous fault, which forms the 
San Fernando valley. The strata dip to the north, towards the valley 
of the Santa Clara river; the broken edges are presented to the south, 
rising like an immense wall from the plain. That this fault exists, is 
proved by the fact that the upper members of the same series of terti- 
ary strata sink beneath the plain from the northern slope of the Santa 
Monica Eange, fm-ther south. The latter terminates in a bold head^ 
land on the Pacific ; it stretches east from Point Duma a distance of 
about forty miles. In this chain is shown a regular anticlinial axis — a 
central core of granite, with strata dipping away from it on both sides; 
these, consisting of sandstone and bituminous slates of miocene age, are 
much altered, more particularly so, however, when they are in contact 
with the central mass of granite. 

The present geographical and geological knowledge of the southern 



414 THE NATUE.VL WEALTH OP CALrFOE^^A. 

part of the State is extremely limited. The San Gabriel Eange is a 
mass of high and rugged mountains extending from the Cajon Pass, on 
the east, to the Santa Susana and Santa Monica Kanges on the west. 
They are largely composed of granitic and metamorphic rocks. North 
of Los Angeles two high points of granite rise to about 5, 000 feet. At 
the base of the mountains tertiary sandstones have been exposed by 
erosion ; above them are masses of post tertiary detritus piled up 
against the flanks of the range to heights of over 1,000 feet. The rocks 
occurring in the San Gabriel Canon are highly metamorphic, and prob- 
ably belong to the cretaceous period. 

East of the San Gabriel Canon, on the southern flank of the range, 
are immense masses of tertiary sandstone, highly disturbed, and trav- 
ersed by numerous dykes of granite. Both copper and silver ores have 
been found in this range. Gold has been mined to some extent — though 
with no great profit. 

To the south are the Santa Ana and Temescal Kanges. The latter 
has attracted considerable attention, on account of the discovery of tin 
ore about three miles north of the Temescal ranch-house. It is pecu- 
liar in appearance, and is probably a mixture of cassiterite (oxide of tin) 
and more or less earthy and mineral matter. Explorations have as yet 
failed to develop deposits of any material value. The geological age 
of the rocks in which it occurs is not known. 

As before stated, a perfect topographical union of the Coast Eanges 
and the Sierra Nevada takes place at the southern end of the Tulare 
valley. The lowest pass from the Tulare valley to the Great Basin, 
though there is no well marked one, is that taken by following up the 
north fork of the Tejon creek and crossing a low ridge into the Ta- 
hatchaypah valley. In this route the highest point attained is about 
4,000 feet. 

The San Emidio Canon, about twenty miles west of the Caiaada de 
las Uvas, opens into the valley of Kern and Buenavista lakes. Toward 
the head of this canon, granite, mica-slate, syenite, hornblende slate, 
and limestone are found. An inconsiderable thickness of cretaceous 
strata, overlaid conformably by an enormous development of unaltered 
tertiary, rests on these. The strata dip to the north at an angle of 
about seventy degrees. The belt of tertiary extends east along the 
flanks of the mountains, and terminates in a range of hills northwest of 
the Canada de las Uvas. At this caiiada cretaceous strata also occur ; 
they are better shown, however, in the Canada de los Alisos, opening 
into the plain about five miles further east. At this place the creta- 
ceous belt is of greater width, and the strata are well exi^osed, though 



GEOLOGY. 415 

mucli broken. Above tliem, along the margin of tlie plain, are beds of 
lava, increasing in "vviclth and having a northern dip, extending from the 
mouth of the Canada de las Uvas to the east and south a considerable 
distance. These seem to form a wall of division between the Sierra 
and the Coast Eanges. A range of undisturbed tertiary hills stretches 
to the northeast along the base of the Sierra Nevada from the Tejon 
Reservation — at the mouth of the Tejon Caiion. To the southwest, this 
range extends towards, but does not connect with, the hills east of the 
San Eraidio Caiion, in which the strata dip at such a high angle. 

In the preceding outline of the geology of the Coast Eanges, it will 
be seen that they have all been elevated since the deposition of the cre- 
taceous. No older formation is known to occur throughout their entire 
length. In them every variety of stnicture is shown. The chains have 
been thrown up by forces acting in different directions, which have 
determined the trend of the mountain ranges, and of the coast. The 
most powerful seem to have been in a northwest and southeast direc- 
tion. 

It is only along the coast that thick forests occur ; most of the hills 
and many of the valleys have scattered trees. The fertility of some of 
the valleys is marvellous ; the bordering hiUs afford abundant pas- 
turage. 

Of the mineral wealth of the Coast Eanges, there is but little more 
to be said. Although gold, and ores of silver, copper and lead occur 
at various points throughout their extent, there is but little probability 
of their ever being found in quantity or under conditions to make them 
commercially valuable. Quicksilver is the great metallic product of 
the Coast Eanges, though its ore (cinnabar) occurs in rocks of almost 
every age. It is found in the Sierra Nevada, (Mariposa county); in 
trisissic rocks in the southern portion of the State; on the eastern slope 
of the Sierra — in strata of the same age, probably — and in the tertiary. 
Between Clear Lake, on the north, and the New Idria Mine, on the 
south, it is found at numerous localities — and it is in the metamorphic 
cretaceous alone, that large and valuable deposits seem likely to occur. 

Of the non-metallic products, coal, borax and sulphur are the most 
important in an economic point of view. Although the former is known 
to exist at many different localities it is unlikely that any beds equalling 
in value those of Monte Diablo Avill be opened. 

The deposits of chromic iron and manganese may hereafter prove 
valuable. Asphaltum exists in immense quantities, and petroleum has 
been obtained to some extent by timnelling. The disturbed condition 
of the tertiary strata in which it occurs, is not favorable for its accumu- 



416 THE NATUEAL 'U'EALTH OF C.VLIFOEXLV. 

lation in interior cavities or reservoirs, and, up to tlie present time, tlie 
numerous attempts to obtain it by boring liave not met with marked 
success. 

GEOLOGY OF THE SIEKKA NEVADA. 

This grand mountain chain, bordering the eastern side of the great 
central valley of California, claims especial attention, not only ou 
account of its magnitude and geological structure and the unsurpassed 
grandeur of its scenery, but because of the auriferous belt stretching 
along its entire western slope and constituting beyond a doubt the 
richest and most extensive gold field in the known world. 

To the consideration of the structure of this chain, and of the great 
aiu'iferous belt, speaking incidentally of some of the more important 
mines and mining districts, the remainder of this chapter is chiefly 
devoted. 

The Sierra Nevada properly includes the San Bernardino mountains 
on the south, and stretches thence into southern Oregon on the north. 
It is a continuous and lofty chain, marked by a line of dominant j)eaks, 
many of which aro over 14, 000 feet high. It has an average width of 
ninety miles, being in places much wider. As has been stated, its 
western slope is more gradual than that of the eastern, which is often 
veiy bold and abruj)t. On the west it is flanked by a long line of com- 
paratively low foothills bordering the Sacramento and San Joaquin val- 
leys. The " divide " or water-shed is generally on a line passing east 
of the line of culminating peaks mentioned in the remarks introductory 
to this chapter. 

GEOLOGIOAi STKUCTDEE OP THE SIEEKA. 

This range of mountains is known to consist of a central core of 
granite, flanked by metamorphic slates. In the southern portion 
granite is especially predominant, the highest summits and broadest 
mass of the chain being composed of that rock. The summits of the 
central portion are of metamoi-phic slates belonging to the eastern flank, 
and the culminating points in the northern part of the chain are of vol- 
canic rocks. The western flank at an elevation of not over 1, 200 feet, 
towards the south, and 1, 000 towards the north, is marked at intervals, 
for a distance of over four hundred miles along the borders of the 
Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, by the occurrence of undistui-bed 
marine tertiary and cretaceous strata. These, though formerly con- 
tinuous, are more extensively denuded and washed away in the central 
portion, than towards either end of the valley, where they are unbroken 
for long distances. South of the parallel of Sacramento the tertiary 



GEOLOGY. 417 

strata, containing generally imperfect fossils, are extensively developed; 
further north, cretaceous, with superimposed tertiary strata capped 
■with volcanic outflows, are found resting horizontally upon the edges of 
the upturned auriferous slates. In the undisturbed position of these 
strata, as opposed to the .extensive disturbances shown to have taken 
place in strata of the same age on the western side of the vaUey, we 
have the basis of Prof. Whitney's distinction between the Sierra Nevada 
and Coast Ranges ; the Slate Geologist, considering all those chains 
or ridges of mountains as belonging to the Coast Banges, which have 
been uplifted since the deposition of the cretaceous formation, while 
those, which were elevated before the epoch of the cretaceous, are reck- 
oned as belonging to the Sierra Nevada. 

The tertiary beds which occur at a level of not over twelve hundred 
feet, and which are never worked for gold, are not to be confounded 
with the detrital deposits found high up on the flanks of the Sierra, 
which, are of freshwater origin and form the great auriferous gravel 
beds of California. Soft tertiary sandstones are found all the way from 
White to Kern rivers, forming rounded hills from two to six hundred 
feet in elevation. From White river to King's river they are wanting, 
but from Kirig's river as far north as the Stanislaus these hills recur, 
rising froin one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet above the plain. 

Cretaceous strata occur near Polsom, and at many points further 
north, being abundantly supplied with well preserved fossils. Between 
Feather and Pitt rivers,^ in the northern portion of the Sacramento 
valley, is an extensive belt of cretaceous strata. Vast outflows of vol- 
canic materials prevent, however, the underlying strata fi'om being 
seen, except where the streams have cut them and exposed the sedi- 
mentary deposits beneath. In the cretaceous strata between Cow and 
Clover creeks a workable bed of coal is reported to exist. It will, 
however, undoubtedly prove of but little economical value. 

The region south of Cow creek is marked by the extensive deposit 
of volcanic materials. Lassen's Peak, and a large number of smaller 
extinct volcanoes between it and the Sacramento river, have been the 
sources of volcanic ashes, scoria, and basaltic lava, which cover an 
area of seventy-five hundred square miles, lying between Pitt river and 
Oroville. The lava seems to have flown in sheets over the surface, 
and, between Fort Beading and Bed Bluff, extends with a gentle slope 
westward to the Sacramento river. That the streams have in places 
cut entirely through the volcanic cappings, and into the cretaceous 
strata beneath, is indicated by the occurrence of fossils of that age in. 
boulders found in the canons and gulches. 
27 



418 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CULLFOENU. 

Near Oroville, at Pence's raneli, the relation of the newer forma- 
tions to the auriferous slates is finely displayed. The cretaceous strata, 
with a low dip to the southwest, rest upon the edges of the upturned 
auriferous slates ; upon the former lie tertiary strata, probably uncon- 
formably, though the disturbances have been slight, and these in turn 
are covered with tables of basaltic lava resting conformably upon them. 

THE GEEAT ATJRIFEEOUS BEIT. 

Although auriferous rocks are not confinett to the western slope of 
the Sierra Nevada, yet it is from the deposits and veins there found 
that almost the entire gold product of the State has been derived. 
The belt may be said to extend from Fort Tejon, northeast along this 
slope of the Sierra, into Oregon. The gold bearing belt of metamor- 
phic slates within those limits varies greatly in width and richness. 
Towards its southern portion it is but feebly represented, but it widens 
out as it extends north. In the northern portion of the State it is 
almost entirely covered with vast deposits of volcanic materials, and 
in many places rendered inaccessible to the miner. It is the central 
portion of this belt that forms the great gold mining region of the 
State — embraced in the western portions of Mariposa, Tuolumne, Cal- 
averas, Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Nevada, Sierra, and Plumas, and 
the eastern part of Yuba and Butte counties. 

In the northwestern part of the State the auriferous slates are also 
exposed, but granitic rocks are there more extensively developed than 
in the central portion of the gold field, and the conditions for the for- 
mation of rich and extensive deposits have not been as favorable as 
elsewhere ; hence, in speaking of the main gold field, that portion of 
the State may be considered as of comparatively little importance. 

S0T3THEKN POBTION OP THE GOIiD YTKTjT). 

Between Mariposa county and Fort Tejon the granitic rocks of the 
Sierra descend lower down upon its flanks than further north, and the 
slates do not occupy a continuous belt, but occvu- in patches in the 
granite — although gold is found throughout the entii'c distance, and 
some rich placers have been worked at intermediate points, the veins of 
this portion must be considered as of inferior importance to those 
which are found in the broad and continuous belt of metamoi-phic slates 
extending to the northwest. Placer mines are worked to a limited ex- 
tent in the Tehatchaypah valley, and in Walker's Basin. Near Kern 
river, are some promising quartz veins in granite, some of which have 
been worked with large profit. Arsenical pyrites occurs abundantly in 
these veins in the lower workings, causing trouble in milling the ores. 



GEOLOaY. 419 

MAEIPOSA C0T7NTT. 

It was on the Mariposa estate, in this county, that some of the earlier 
qiiartz mining operations in California -were undertaken. The western 
portion of the county is the more important, as being that trayersed 
by the auriferous slate belt, in -which are sitiiated well ImoAvn and 
extensively worked quartz mines. The eastern part is remarkable for 
the bold grandeur of its scenery, and contains several of the more lofty 
peaks of the Sierra. In this county is also located the famous Yosemite 
valley, elsewhere in this volume so fully described, that only a few con- 
siderations as to the cause of its origin will here be introduced. The 
volcanic accumulations being less extensive in this than along the gold 
belt in the more northern counties, no extensive hydraulic washings 
are carried on here — in fact, the yield of the placer mines in this 
county has been so much diminished that they may now be considered 
unimportant. 

The Fremont Gh"ant, now better Imown as the Mariposa estate, hav- 
ing from the first figTired largely in the history of this county, still 
constitutes one of its prominent features. This estate embraces an 
area of about seventy square miles, extending from the Merced river, 
southeast, a distance of sixteen miles. It is traversed by a belt of 
metamorphic slates, with belts of generally highly metamorphosed sand- 
stone on either side. Beyond the sandstone are slates again; serpen- 
tine and limestone occur in patches. Towards the southern end the 
metamorphism seems to have been greater, and granite cuts across tlie 
slate belt and continues westward towards the foot-hills. This belt is 
marked by the occurrence of numerous quartz veins which generally 
strike in a direction parallel to the trend of the inclosing strata, and dip 
with them. Veins in the gra.nite to the south have the same general 
trend, a few degrees west of north. 

There are several groups of mines within the limits of the estate. 
The Pine Tree and Josephine are located a mile and a half from the 
Merced river, and within a short distance of each other. They are 
generally considered to be on the same vein, though never having been 
connected, it is uncertain. They are. remarkable for their enormous 
width of veinstone, which varies from twelve to forty feet, and in the 
latter averages twenty feet. 

Six miles southeast of the Pine Tree and Josephine is another 
group of mines, of which the Princeton is the most important. This 
has in former years proved one of the most productive quartz veins of 
California. The trend and dip of the vein are the same as those of the 
inclosing strata. It varies in width, from a few inches to eight feet. 



420 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA. 

Its course is marked by many flexures. Tlie inclosing rock is a dark 
colored, fine grained, argillaceous sliale. The mine lias furnished 
specimens of crystalline gold, having brilliant faces of rare and un- 
equalled beauty. Iron pyrites, blende and galena occur in greater 
quantities here than at the Pine Tree and Josephine mines. 

Mines Elsewhere in ilie Cownty. — Heavy outcrops of quartz occur 
near Coultsrville. A few miles northwest of the town is a massive 
outcrop known as the Penon Blanco (white rock). Here the quartz 
mine, known as McAlpine's lode, has been extensively, and, it is said, 
profitably worked. The outcrop is generally consideied to be a 
continuation of those which mark the position of the Pine Tree and 
Josephine veins. Outcrops of quai-tz occur along a northwest and south- 
east line, for a distance of seventy miles from the mines on the Mari- 
posa estate, extending as far north as Jackson, in Amador county. 

It is equally certain that the principal quartz veins and the most 
extensive placer mines in the counties of Mariposa, Tuolumne, Cala- 
veras, and Amador, are nearly in the line of this succession of out- 
crops. An interesting quartz vein a few inches thick, containing crys- 
talline cinnabar, occurs in the metamorphic slates, on the Merced 
river, near Horseshoe Bend. 

TUOLTUINE COTTNTT. 

The eastern portion of this county lies in the high regions of the 
Sierra, and is underlaid by granite. In the western part of the county 
the auriferous slate belt attains a width of about twenty-five miles. 
The metamorphic rocks are marked by very diflferent lithological char- 
acters — the. slates are silicious and argillaceous, rather than talcose. 
Sandstones are so highly metamorphosed as to have a trappean char- 
acter, making it often difficult to distinguish betr^^een eruptive and 
metamorphic rocks. 

Limestone occurs at various localities in Tuolumne county. It is 
generallj- crystalline, of a bluish gray color, though where most highly 
altered it is white. It is quarried extensively near Columbia, and 
afibrds a good material for building pui-poses, monuments, etc. The 
mining region in this county is very extensive, and contains not only 
numerous quartz mines, but large areas of deep deposits of auriferous 
gravel, covered by sheets of basaltic lava, which have flown doTMi the 
Avestem slopes of the Sierra, filling and closing the channels of former 
rivers, directing their courses, and remodeling the topogi-aphy of , the 
entire region. The detrital deposits of this county have furnished 



GEOLOGY. 



421 



more fossil remains of large animals, tlian the same formations in any- 
other part of the State. 

Talle Mountain.— In this county is, perhaps, the most striking 
example of the flat, table-like masses. of basaltic laya capping the aurif- 
erous detrital deposits, and brought out into bold relief by the erosion 
of the softer materials on both sides of them. The well known Table 
mountain of Tuolumne county is a vast lava flow from the lofty volcanic 
region beyond the Big Trees of Calaveras. It forms a nearly unbroken 
ridge on the north side of the Stanislaus, two thousand feet or more 
above the river. Its upper surface is nearly level, but the edges and 
the surrounding country have :been denuded to an enormous depth by 
forces which its superior hardness enabled it to resist. The Stanislaus 
river now runs at a depth of ;two thousand feet below, and could not 
have existed at the time of the volcanic outflow, which must have 
sought the lowest channels. That this was the case, and that where 
the Stanislaus now runs there was a mass of mountains, is not a mere 
matter of speculation, for this lava flow is seen to have crossed the 
present valley of the Stanislaus at Abbey's Perry, and must have 
followed the course of an ancient channel. It follows, that since the 
ancient valley was thus filled with the volcanic mass, that an amount 
of denudation, not less than three or four thousand feet, has taken 
place within the most recent geological epoch. 

This is one of the many exam^iles supplied along this belt of the 
results of extensive lava outflows from the higher portions of the Sierra. 
They are not confined to this county, being a marked feature in the 
•mining counties ndrth of Tuolumne, particularly Nevada and Sierra. 
This whole region has been remodeled, and where are now deep canons 
and gorges there were formerly hills, which determined the course of 
the streams of molten lava. We thus have, on the western flank of 
the Sierra, an ancient as well as a present river system. If further evi- 
dence of this fact were wanting, it is furnished in the character of the 
deti-ital deposits, and the surfaces of tlie rocks, in the ancient channels, 
which, lying beneath the lava, and the accumulations of volcanic 
material, have been largely developed in the system of tunnel mining 
now extensively prosecuted in aU the leading mining districts of the 
State. 

Fossil Remains. — As before stated, these ancient deposits are of ter- 
tiary age — they have been referred to the pliocene epoch. Since the 
time of their deposition, and the period of that intense activity that 
followed, enormous denudation has taken place and continued to the 
present time, resulting in the formation of new and shallower deposits 



422 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOE^fIA. 

from the disintegration of the old. In this superficial detritus the 
■works of man are found so closely associated with the bones of the 
mastodon and elephant, that the conviction necessarily follows that he 
existed previous to the disappearance of these animals from a region in 
which they were no doubt numerous. These, as well as discoveries of 
like nature made in Europe, prove the human race to be of much 
greater antiquity than is generally supposed. The remains of the 
mastodon and elephant have not been found in the deposits beneath the 
lava, but the bones and teeth of animals, and pieces of silicified wood, 
are common in these older auriferous gravels; impressions of leaves in 
the clay beneath the gravel are also found. Of the animals peculiar to 
the deposits beneath the lava there are the rhinoceros, an extinct 
species of horse, and also a species allied to the camel. 

Six miles east of Sonora, in the neighborhood of Soulsbyville, are 
other volcanic deposits originating in the high Sierra. Near Soulsby- 
ville, lava, fifty feet in thickness, rests upon a stratum of volcanic ash 
and pumice stone, deposited in a stratified form. These deposits con- 
tain the bones and teeth of animals similar to those found beneath the 
lava of Table Mountain. 

Gold Mining. — ^Nearly the whole region between Kincaid Flat and 
as far north as the Stanislaus river has been worked, proving one of 
the most productive placer mining districts in the State. The surface 
of the limestone, with its deep crevices, has acted favorably in the 
retention of the gold. 

Many quartz veins have, been and are still being extensively and 
profitably developed in Tuolumne county ; several of those heretofore 
worked having yielded very large returns. At the present time the 
business is being prosecuted in a number of districts with satisfactory 
results. The great "mother vein," so termed, appears in an outcrop 
near Jamestown, forming the eminences known as TVhisky Hill, Pov- 
erty Hill, and Quartz Hill. It is of very large, though of variable 
dimensions, and, while barren in many places, has paid at least mod- 
erately well in others, the above localities having been the scenes of 
extended and tolerably successful mining and milling operations. 

CAIiAVEKAS COUNTX. 

The belt of auriferous metamoi-phic rocks continues on through the 
central portion of Calaveras county, its width remaining about the 
same as in Tuolumne. The southwestern portion of the former is 
rarely covered except by superficial detritus ; but the northeastern, in 
the neighborhood of the junction of the slates and the granite, is 



GEOLOGY. 423 

marked by tlie occurrence of graTel deposits, coTered bj volcanic out- 
flows, similar to tliose in Tuolumne county. 

ZJhion Copper dime. — ^Tbe western portion of tbe belt includes the 
celebrated Union Copper Mine, a few years since largely and profit- 
ably worked, tbough but little has been done upon it for the past 
two years, owing to the low price of copper ore, and to lawsuits pend- 
ing against the present owners. The ore is not found in a regu- 
lar fissure vein, but lies apparently in independent lenticular masses. 
Large shipments were made from this mine for several years after it 
was first opened. The ore is the yellow sulphuret, (chalcopyrite), with 
a mixture of iron pyrites. The inclosing rocks of this deposit are 
chiefly chlorite and chloritic slates. Serpentine, presenting indications 
of copper, occur west of Copperopolis, apparently trending with the 
formation. 

Gold Mining. — ^The great quartz vein of California passes to the 
east of these copper deposits. It appears at Carson Hill, at Albany 
Hill, at Angels, and both south and north of San Andreas. It has 
been extensively worked at various points, the mines of Carson Hill 
alone having furnished four million dollars of gold. From the Morgan 
claim over two million dollars are said to have been taken from a small 
space. The slates adjoining the vein have proved very rich, paying as 
much as eighty dollars to the ton. The placers in this vicinity were 
also formerly very prolific. The gold, however, is here so irregularly 
distributed in the quartz veins as to have rendered the business of 
mining for it very fluctuating and hazardous. The Stanislaus mine, 
near Santa Cruz HiU, in the vicinity of Eobinson's Ferry, has fur- 
nished remarkable specimens of auriferous rock, in which, associated 
with the gold, are the rare tellurides of silver and gold, in larger quan- 
tity than they have been found elsewhere in the State. 

The placer and hydraulic mines of Calaveras county are extensive, 
and have generally proved fairly and often highly remunerative. Vol- 
canic deposits are widely diffused over the northeastern section of the 
county. Limestone, deeply eroded on the surface, occurs towards the 
eastern portion of the gold bearing belt. 

An exposure on the road from the Stanislaus river to Murphy's 
shows a thickness of five hundred feet of volcanic and sedimentary 
material resting on the limestone. The upper portion, over one hun- 
dred feet in thickness, is basaltic lava, resting upon a series of beds 
of sand, clay and volcanic ashes containing boulders of quartz. The 
surface of this limestone, in the vicinity of Murphy's, has been con- 
siderably worked for placer gold ; imbedded in it are veins of quartz. 



424 THE NATUKAl WEALTH OF CALIFOKNIA. 

some of -wkich have also been mined. A vein occurring in it contains 
not only gold, but cinnabar in small quantity, togetber "vvitli vitreous 
copper, and some blue and green carbonate of copper. A second 
instance of tbe occurrence of cinnabar in the rocks of tbe Sierra. 

ASIADOB COTJNTT. 

The main gold bearing belt passes througli the central portion of 
Amador county, but is much narrower here than in Calaveras, being 
only about twelve miles wide. Towards the eastern border of the slates 
we have a continuation. of the limestone of Tuolumne and Calaveras. 
In placer mining, once active here, but little is now being done. Along 
the line of the main belt there are a number of prominent mines, fore- 
most amongst which is the Hayward or Amador claim, consisting of 
the Eureka and Badger lodes. The cost of stamping and milling 
quartz at one of the mills of this company, where water is plenty, is 
stated to be sixty-six cents per ton; less, perhaps, than at any other mill 
in the State. 

At Volcano we have the same limestone formation, with small veins 
of quartz imbedded in it. Here, also, the detrital mass is thick, and 
has been profitably washed in many places. In one of the beds in this 
vicinity, a distinctly marked quartz vein occurs in the gravel, showing 
how recently veins have been formed. 

On the Cosumnes and Mokelumne rivers fine sections of the sedi- 
mentary, with superimposed lava deposits, are exhibited. 

In the tertiary foot-hills bordering the Sacramento valley, coal has 
been found, but too limited in quantity and of .too poor a quality to be 
of any other than mere local value. 

EL DOKADO COUNTX. 

The geological features of this county are similar to those of Ama- 
dor, but the volcanic formations are not so extensively developed as 
in the latter. There are some detrital deposits here still worked by 
the process of hydraulic washing. The belt of auriferous rocks occu- 
pies a great breadth here, it being nearly thirty miles broad, in a direc- 
tion at right angles to the trend of the slates, which largely predominate. 
Some portions of these are of triassic age, a determination based, in 
part, upon the resemblance of the impressions found in the slates to 
the fossils from known triassic rocks occuring at Washoe, and in the 
Humboldt mining region, in the State of Nevada. Quite a number 
of fossils of .unquestionably triassic age have been found by members 
of the State Geological Survey, in Plumas county, farther north. 



425 



PLACEB OOTJNTT. 



The Tolcanic deposits occupy a large area in the lower part of this 
county, rendering the working of quartz subordinate to hydraulic and. 
tunnel mining. 

The metamorphic belt is in great part covered by Tolcanic mate- 
rials. From near Aubm-n to the Sacramento plain, granite is the tinder- 
lying rock. In this several quarries have been opened, furnishing a 
superior building material. Iron ore (hematite) occurs in considerable 
quantity a few miles from Auburn, and under as favorable conditions, 
as regards extent and location, as at any other point in the auriferous 
slate series. " The north and Middle Forks of the American river flow 
through deep gorges or narrow canons, which they have eroded in the 
volcanic outflows, cutting deep below them into the slates, of which 
they afford fine exposures. 

The towns of Iowa Hill, "Wisconsin Hill, and Todd's Valley, mark 
an important line of hydraulic mines, extending across this county. 
In places the detrital beds have a thickness of more than five hundred 
feet, the "cement," or coarse compacted gravel below, often being one 
hundred feet in depth. On the Middle Fork of the American, the 
detrital beds reach to the summits bordering the canon ; at Sarahsville, 
near which place is an immense mass of serpentine, they recede 
towards the north. These deposits are covered by beds of sedimentary 
volcanic materials capped by basaltic lava, which forms the summit of 
the ridge between the North and Middle Forks of the American river. 
This ridge is cut by deep caiions or gorges, .in one instance two thou- 
sand feet in depth, with sides sloping at as high an angle as forty-five 
degrees. The auriferous slates beneath are sometimes eroded to a 
depth of fifteen hundred feet, and peculiar facilities are thus aflbrded 
for the study of their structure. 

It was in this vicinity that Prof. "V\Tiitney observed the very inter- 
esting fact, illustrative of the probable fan-like structure of the strata 
flanking the central portion of the Sierra. These usually show an 
easterly dip, towards the chain ; in these deep vertical sections, it was 
noticed that the upper one thousand or twelve hundre.d feet had the 
normal dip to the east, but below this there was a gradual curve, and 
at the bottom the dip was to the west, as if 'the upper portion of the 
strata had been forced back by immense pressure from above — a vari- 
ety of structure, of which there are many examples in the Alps, and 
which, for a long time, perplexed European geologists. 



426 THE NATUruM ■WEALTH OP CALIFOKNIA. 

NEVADA COUNTY. 

The auriferous belt in tliis county is wide, aaid includes extended 
areas of granite, one of -whicli passes but a little to the east of Grass 
Valley. The limestone belt may also be traced through the southwest- 
ern part of the county. It is exposed at a place called Lime-kiln, ten 
miles so^ith of Grass Valley, and is in line with the fossiliferous lime- 
stone at Pence's ranch, kno-mi to be of carboniferous age. 

As we proceed northward on the auriferous belt, the strike of the 
strata becomes more nearly north and south, the system of northwest 
and southeast trends gives out, and we find a preparation for the north 
and south lines of upheaval, which characterize the motmtain chains 
of western Nevada and northeastern California. The rocks retain, 
however, the same marked easterly dip, and toward the lower side of 
the belt the inclination seems to be greater than it is fui'ther east. 

Grass Valley is justly celebrated as being the principal quartz min- 
ing center of California, the business having been commenced here at 
an early day, since which it has been prosecuted with many vicissitudes, 
but generally Avith marked success. The veins here, though numerous, 
are not generally large ; their richness, however, compensates for 
their want of size. Their average width is perhaps two feet, while 
some, that have proved extremely productive, have not averaged above 
a foot or eighteen inches. They are for the most part highly mineral- 
ized, and have evidently been formed by aqueous action. They 
abound in the sulphurets of iron, copper and lead, and occasionally 
zinc ; arsenical pyrites also sometimes occur, as for instance in the 
Norambagua mine, and on Houston Hill. The gold is generally 
associated with the sulphurets, though it is found sometimes in beauti- 
fully crystalline masses in pure quartz ; it is irregularly distributed 
throughout the veinstone, which is often barren, but frequently very 
rich. The rocks in the vicinity of Grass Valley are so highly metamor- 
phosed as to obliterate all traces of stratification; and it is, therefore, 
impossible to state the true position of the veins with reference to 
them. The most productive vein has been that upon Massachusetts 
and Gold hills. In working seventy thousand tons of rock from this 
mine, the average yield of gold was over eighty dollars per ton. The 
sulphurets occurring in the Grass Valley mining district are generally 
rich in gold. In quantity they usually do not exceed more than one or 
two per cent, of the mass of ore ; though in some mines they are more 
abundant. They are now carefully collected and worked by Platt- 
ner's chlorination process, by which over ninety per cent, of their 
entire contents in gold is saved. The experience gained at this place, 



GEOLOGT. 427 

as well as in working otlier quartz lodes elsewhere in California, some 
of whicli liaye been developed to great depths, tends to disprove the 
theory that the yield of gold diminishes in the ratio of the depth 
attained. 

Prof. B. Silliman, in speaking of the Eureka mine, near Grass Yal- 
ley, observes that from the date of its location, February 7th, 1851, to 
the close of 18.58, it proved only a source of expense ; and its history is 
instructive, as suggesting that shallow surface explorations, in gold min- 
ing may be as unsatisfactory as they are known to be in other mining 
enterprises. So late as 1858 five thousand tons of quartz, taken above 
the drain level, or thirty feet from the surface, yielded in the mill less 
than ten dollars per ton gold — not returning expenses. A shaft sunk 
to a depth of about fifty feet afforded quartz, however, which yielded 
fifteen dollars per too, and the amount of gold rapidly iucreased to 
twenty-eight doUara per ton at one hundred feet. Between the one 
hundred and the two hundred feet levels the average yield was about 
thirty-seven dollars per ton, and between the two hundred and three 
hundred feet levels- the average has been about fifty dollars per ton, 
rising to sixty-four dollars in the last months of 1866. 

There are in fact two distinct veins in the Eureka mine, separated 
from each other by a mass of greenstone, or metamorphic sandstone, 
about twenty-eight or thirty feet in thickness. The smaller of these 
veins is on the south, and has not been explored, but is well defined 
at a point where the shaft and cross cuts have exposed it. The green- 
stone forms the hanging wall of the main vein, and is particularly reg- 
ular and smooth, in some places beautifully polished. The foot wall 
consists in some parts of soft serpentine. It may be interesting to 
analyze a little more in detail the returns of this mine, as illustrating 
a point already alluded to, viz : its. progressive increase of gold with 
increase of depth. From October, 1865, to December 31, 1865, the 
quantity of quartz crushed was twenty-four hundred and forty-five tons, 
yielding an average of thirty-three dollars and eighty-seven cents per 
ton, and costing to mine and reduce thirteen dollars and fifty-one cents. 
From January 1st to June 1st, 1866, the crushing was forty-seven hun- 
dred and three tons, averaging forty-six dollars and sixty-eight cents 
per ton, at a cost of twelve dollars and fiity-two cents per ton. From 
June 1st to September 30th, 1866, the amount of quartz crushed was 
forty-two hundred and twenty-seven and three-fourths tons, giving an 
average yield of sixty dollars and thirty-three cents per ton, at a cost 
of fifteen dollars and seventy-eight cents per ton. For the whole year 
ending Sej)tember 30th, 1866, the total crushing was eleven thousand 



428 THE NATUKjU, WE.VLTH OF CjVLIFOEMjV. 

tliree hundred and seventy-five and three-fourths tons, yielding a gen- 
eral average per ton of forty-five dollars and eighty-three cents, at a 
mean cost per ton of thirteen dollars and seventy-five cents. The total 
product of bullion from this mine for the year ending September 
30th, 1867, was $585,000— average yield of the ore having been $4S 
per ton. 

Nevada city is another important qaartz mining locality in this 
county. Nevada county also claims sj)ecial attention, on account of 
some of the most extensive hydraulic washings to be found in the State. 
The great ancient river channel of Sierra county, kno^vn throughout 
California as the Blue Lead, entei-s this county on the north, at Snow 
Point, and probably continues across it, connecting with the detrital 
deposits at Eed Dog, and thence through Placer county to Todd's Val- 
ley. Though it is impossible to reconstruct the ancient river system in 
the absence of more full and perfect data, enough is known to establish 
the fact that their course was approximately at right angles to that of 
the present streams. 

In the hydraulic washings at Eed Dog, great numbers of trunks of 
trees have been uncovered in the operations of mining ; they are silici- 
fied, and are shown to have been subjected to the force of violent cur- 
rents before they were covered by the thick detrital deposits. In the 
finer sedimentary layers, impressions of leaves are found, but animal 
remains occur less frequently than in similar deposits in the more 
southern counties. Auriferous gravel deposits, beneath volcanic for- 
mations, have been worked in the vicinity of both Nevada City and 
Grass A'^alley. At the former place, above the lower twenty feet con- 
stituting the pay gravel, is a bed of lignite, with much iron pyrites 
resulting from the rediicing action of decaying vegetable matter. 

Between French Corral and San Juan, along the IMiddle Tuba 
river, is a belt of hydraulic washings famous for their productiveness ; 
this is about one thousand feet wide, and towards its eastern end the 
bottom of the deposits is at an elevation of at least one thousand feet 
above the river, which has cut its channel since their deposition. The 
lower portion of these detrital deposits, which consist of pebbles and 
boulders of quartz, granite, and the metamorphic rocks of the Sierra, 
firmly compacted and cemented together, is often of a bluish color, 
contrasting with the brownish yellow of the upper portion, due to oxi- 
dation of iron. This deposit appears to be the continuation of a known 
ancient river channel, traversing the entire western portion of Sierra 
county, and running parallel with the famous Blue Lead already men- 
tioned. 



GEOLOGY. 429 

SIEEEA COXmiT. 

Tliis county lies wlioUy in tlie liigh portions of the Sierra nortli of 
Nevada county. The lowest point in it, ■where the north Tuba river 
cuts its western boundary, is over twO thousand feet aboTe the sea. 
The auriferous slates are exposed in its western portion, though they 
are generally covered by accumulations of volpanic origin, consisting 
largely of breccia, or volcanic conglomerate. * Some of the summits, 
formed by basaltic lava capping the slates, are estimated to be over 
eight thousand feet in height, and in this county form the crest of the 
Sierra Nevada mountains. The slates exposed in the numerous deep 
canons, with which the county is furrowed, are seen to inclose large 
masses of serpentine and talcose slate ; they also include many prom- 
ising quartz veins. 

"Within five hundred feet of the summit of the Downieville Buttes, 
or, as they are sometimes called, the Sierra Buttes, at an elevation of 
eight thousand feet, are the quartz mines belonging to the Sierra Buttes 
and Independence Mining companies. Here, an immense vein, from 
six to thirty feet in width, cuts across the ravines and gulches from 
east to west, dipping at an angle of forty-two degi-ees to the north, 
a more detailed description of which is given in the chapter on the 
subject of "Mines and Mining," to be found in another part of this 
volume. 

Sierra county, as before remarked, is almost wholly covered by 
beds of volcanic origin, cut in numerous places by the streams which 
liave eroded their channels to an immense depth in the underlying 
slates. The auriferous gravel deposits of this county are probably 
more extensive than are to be found elsewhere in the State. The 
famous Blue Lead, or ancient river channel, has been traced from 
Sebastopol, in the northern part of the county, south, crossing the 
course of the present streams nearly at right angles, to Snow Point, 
in Nevada county, its course being marked by a long line of tunnel 
claims and mining camps. 

The phenomena exhibited here do not differ materially from those 
presented in Table Mountain, Toulumne county. A map of Sierra 
county, prepared by Messrs. Grossman & Cochran, the former of whom 
has had peculiar advantages in the study of the ancient river system of 
this county, represents four of the ancient river channels as having a 
generally northerly and southerly course, and crossed by the present 
streams, instead of running parallel to them, as is the case in Tuol- 
umne county. The valley of Table Mountain river is shown to have 
been filled with one volcanic outflow or stream, but in Sierra county 



430 THE NATUKAX WEALTH OF CALITOKNTA. 

there are evidences of a series of numerous and complicated volcanic 
phenomena. 

The deposits in this county, though they have been extensively 
worked, may be considered as almost intact, when the probable amount 
of gold they will yet furnish is contemplated. It is probable that the 
volcanic formations predominate east of the Sierra in this county — the 
valleys most likely confaining extensive fresh water tertiary deposits. 
Coal has often been reported, but is probably nothing more than lignite, 
in limited quality, such as occurs at many points east of the Sierra. 

PIjTIMAS COimTT. 

The auriferous slates are grandly exposed in the central portions of 
this county. The volcanic outflows from Lassen's Peak on the north, 
and Pilot Peak on the south, and the volcanic crest of the Sierra, cover 
the larger portion of it. The upper part of Genesee valley is marked 
by the occurrence of gi'anitic rocks, the lower by metamorphic slates. 
In a metamorphic sandstone, exposed in a canon connecting Indian 
and Genesee valleys, Messrs. Brewer and King, of the geological survey, 
found fossils which were considered by Mr. Meek, the distinguished 
paleontologist, as almost certainly of Jurassic age. The locality is about 
four miles below Gifford's ranch, and near what is called Mormon Station. 
Adjacent to this locality, a belt of highly crystalline limestone, contain- 
ing a few obscure fossils, occurs at the junction of the metamorjDhic 
rocks and the granite ; it is probably of carboniferous age. Triassic 
fossils were also found at another place in the calcareous slates, between 
the limestone belt and the granite. 

The discovery of triassic and Jurassic fogsils in the rocks of Gen- 
esee valley, and the subseqiient discovery of belemnites in the slates, 
on the Mariposa estate, indicating a formation later than the trias, and 
their stratigraphical position, led to the announcement in the Journal 
of Science, September, 1864, by Prof. "Whitney, of the fact, that a large 
portion of the auriferous rocks of California consist of metamorphic 
triassic and Jurassic strata. 

This was followed by an independent announcement by Mr. TV. P. 
Blake to the California Academy of Sciences, in October of the same 
year, of the probable Jurassic or cretaceous age of the gold bearing 
slates of California, founded upon the indentification of a gi'onp of 
secondary fossils from the slates contiguous to the Pine Tree vein on 
the Mariposa estate. 

Previously, the occurrence of gold was considered as a marked indi- 



GEOLOGY. 431 

cation of silurian or palasozoic rocks, tliougli the earliest labors of the 
survey tended to the conclusion that such was not the case. 

Since the discoveries made in Mariposa county, the belt of Jurassic 
rocks has been traced as far north a^ the Stanislaus river, fossils 
having been found at several intermediate points ; and enough is now 
known to establish the fact, that the great metamorphic belt flanking 
the Sierra, is made up of triassic and Jurassic strata, with a compara- 
tively small development of carboniferous limestone ; and that the 
occurrence of gold in paying quantities in California seems to be con- 
fined to strata of these ages. 

Lassen's Peak, at the extreme northwest corner of Plumas county, 
consists of an imperfect flattened cone of volcanic ashes and debris, 
through which project sharp ridges of trachyte, rising to a height of 
two thousand feet from a gently sloping plateau of gray lava. No 
crater remains on the summit, but they are to be seen on the tops of 
numerous smaller cones rising from the volcanic tables in the vicinity. 
Traces of glacial action are to be found on aU sides of this p3ak, be- 
tween points six and nine thousand feet in elevation. Glaciers have 
covered its slopes and descended towards the head-waters of the 
streams, the caiions of which now afi^ord such stupendous examples of 
denudation, they being in places more than three thousand feet deep. 

The northeastern portion of the State, as already remarked, is 
largely covered by lava — one almost continuous area of nearly ten 
thousand square miles being thus overlaid. 

Mt. Shasta is an enormous volcanic mass, and forms one of the 
grandest objects of California scenery. It is a symmetrical cone with 
steep slopes, and sharp summit, rising to an altitude of 14,442 feet. 
The upper six thousand feet are covered with perpetual snow. It was 
for a time suiDposed that this was the highest summit in California, 
biit the explorations of the State Geological Survey, in the regions of 
the high Sierra, between the parallels of 35° and 39° have demon- 
strated the fact that there are other peaks yet higher. 

In the northern counties the auriferous rocks are similar in their 
lithological characters to those of the metamorphic belt passing 
through the principal mining counties already described. No fossils 
have been found within the State north of 41°. The series expands 
to the westward, and north of the Klamath river, extending quite to 
the coast. 

In the counties north of the great vaUey j)lacer mines have been 
worked, and fiu-nished in the aggregate a large amount of gold ; quartz 
veins have also been developed here to some extent. The country is 



432 THE NATUEAL WEAITH OF CtLITOROTA. 

exceedingly rough, and as yet but thinly settled, much of it not being 
thoroughly explored. Mountains ranging from six to eight thousand 
feet in height are not uncommon in this region. The higher summits 
west of the Sacramento river* are gi'anitic, while those to the east are 
of volcanic origin. To the State Geological Survey we are indebted 
for full descriptions and accui'ate measurements of several high peaks 
situated in the Sierra Nevada range, between 35° and 39°, though the 
number and great altitude of these summits had been previously noted. 

The cidminating point. Mount "WTiitney, near latitiide 3G° 30', is 
about 15, 000 feet high, while within a radius of thirty miles are numer- 
ous peaks rising 14 000 feet and over. These are all granite, which 
here forms the mass of the chain, eighty miles or more in width. We 
have in this portion of the range by far the grandest mountain scenery 
to be found in the State. Cafions from three to six thousand feet deep 
are not uncommon in this region. Above an altitude of 4,000 feet evi- 
dences of previously existing glaciers on an enormous scrle are to be 
seen, in the frequent occurrence of large areas of polished rocks, and of 
moraines. Smooth surfaces are especially frequent at heights varying 
from 6, 000 to 11, 000 feet. To an elevation of 9, 000 feet the slopes are 
covered with forests of heavy timber. Above that altitude, and to a 
height of 10,000 or 11,000 feet, the stunted growth of alpine species is 
found; while below, four thousand feet, we have the scattered forests of 
oak and pine, and the dry foot-hills that border the great San Joaquin 
valley. 

The Yosemite valley lies in the granitic part of the chain. Ice and 
water have, no doubt, been the chief agents in the formation of this 
wonderfully gi-and and singular gorge ; though it is highly probable 
that other causes may have operated with these to impress upon it its 
peculiar configuration. 

The high peaks near Mono Lake are of metamorphic slates belong- 
ing to the eastern flank, and are marked by more rounded outlines than 
the granite summits further south. Mount Dana and Castle Peak are 
each about 13,000 feet in elevation — the summit of the former being 
readily accessible. 

The water from the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, north of 
35^, as far as the Oregon line, flows into closed valleys, or basins with- 
out outlets to the sea. East of the Sierra Nevada, therefore, we have a 
long line of lakes bordering the chain. Sometimes the water sinks into 
the sands of the desert. Some of these interior basins or valleys lie 
at a high elevation, while others — ^like Death Valley — are known to be 
below the level of the sea. The water of the lakes is generally intensely 



GEOLOGY. ^ 433 

saline, and tlie lakes themselves slio-w evidences of quite recent changes 
of level. Large areas, now dry, have been formerly occupied by lakes 
or inland seas, which may have had their greatest developments during 
the existence of gigantic glaciers, the marks of which are so abundant 
throughout the high Sierra. But comparatively little is known of the 
geology of the Great Basin, it being a vast and almost unexplored 
desert, which is also the case with the southeastern portion of Califor- 
nia, covering an area of about thirty thousand square miles. 

Geologically, the Sierra Nevada probably includes other mountain 
chains, lying to the east in the Great Basin, thoiigh it is doubtless older 
than the Rocky Mountain chain. From geological evidence, we know 
that its upheaval took place before any of the Coast Eanges were 
formed ; or, in other words, after the deposition of the Jurassic, and 
previous to that of the cretaceous era. 

28 



CHAPTER VII. 

ZOOLOGY. 

General Plan. Mamtvtat.t/v : Bears — Eaccoon— Skunks— Glutton— Fisher— Marten— Weasel 
Otter— Cougar — Jaguar — Ocelot — ^Wild Cats — Wolf — Coyote — Foxes— Sea Lions and 
Seals— Sea Elephant— Shrews— Bats— BeaTer-Marmots— Squirrels — ^Kats — Gophers — 
Porcupine — Hares— Elk— Deer — Antelope — Bighorn— Whales and Porpoises. Bieds: 
Paysano— Cuckoo — ^Woodpeckers — ^Eagles — Hawks— Owls — ^Vultures — Crows— Magpies 
Jays— Kingfishers— Flycatchers— Nighthawks— Humming Birds— Swallows— Waxwings 
Thrushes— Mocking Birds— Grosbeaks— Linnets— Goldfinches— Sparrows — Pigeons- 
Doves— Cranes— Herons— Ibis— Plover-Snipe— Curlews--Quail— Swans— Geese -Braut 
Ducks — Pelicans — Cormorants — Albatross - - Fulmars —Petrels — Gulls- Loons —Grebes 
— Sea Parrot — Sea Pigeon — Murre. Keptiles : Tortoise— Turtles — Lizards— Iguana — 
Horned Toads— Glass Snake — ^Rattlesnakes — Harmless Snakes— Frogs, etc., — Salamau" 
ders— Four-legged Fish. Fishes : Perch— Kingfish-Basse—Moonfish— Goldfish— Vivi- 
parous Fish — Kedfish — Kelpfish — Mackerel — Bonito — Albicore — Barracouta — Flying 
Fish— Panther Fish- -Sticklebacks— Kock-Cod—Sculpiu— Wolf-Eel -Gobies— Toad Fish 
—Lump Fish-Flat Fish— Hahbut—Turbot— Sole - Cod— Whiting— Codling— Tom-Cod 
— Snake Fish^Sahnon Trout — White Fish — Smelts— KiUies —Herring — Anchovies — 
Chubs — Suckers — Conger-Eel — Balloon Fish — Sea Horse — ^Pipe Fish — Sturgeons — Kays 
— Sharks — Torpedo — Angel Fish — Stingrays— Lampreys — ^Worm Fish. Mollusca : 
Oysters — Clams — Date Fish — ^Mussels. Ceustacea : Crabs — Lobster — Shrimps — Craw, 
fish. 

THE AlrtMAIiS OF CAX,IFOBNIA. 

The following is a brief systematic enumeration of the vertebrated 
animals of California^ intended to show, as far as the allotted space 
will permit, how many and what sorts of creatures we have, of the 
four highest classes. Their scientific names are given, so that those 
who seek further information may find it in books which treat of them, 
and in which the English names are often omitted or used differently. 
The latter are notoriously uncertain, the same being often given to 
different animals, and different names to the same animal in various 
regions, some instances of which are here mentioned. 

It would be impossible to give here even a list of the invertebrate 
animals, and as few of them have English names, such a list would 
convey no information to the general reader. No complete work on 



ZOOLOGY. 435 

the insects has yet been attempted, and the Coleoptera alone have 
been pretty fully described, numbering about four hundred species. 
The known Mollusca are nearly eight hundred species, including those 
of the land, fresh and salt waters. The Eadiata are also as yet unde- 
termined, but it is hoped that the Legislature wiU authorize the publi- 
cation of complete illustrated works on all these branches, as well as 
those on the Vertebrates which are now being prepared by the Geolog- 
ical Survey. 

MAMMALIA. 

The first in rank of the animal kingdom is the class to which the 
name of "animals" is often improperly limited, also called "quadru- 
peds," although there are also numerous four-footed animals in the 
class of Eeptiles. The name of Mammalia, or sucklers, is the only 
one that really defines the limits of the class, as it includes the whales, 
which have no legs, and the bats and seals, in which the limbs are 
scarcely to be called legs. 

Of the nine orders usually recognised in this class, three are with- 
out native representatives in California, viz : the Quadrumaiia, or mon- 
keys, Pachydermata, including the hog, elephant, etc., a.-a.di^Q Edentata 
of which the armadillo and ant-eater are examples. The others are, 
however, abundantly represented, about one hundred and fifteen spe- 
cies having been found in the State or along its seaboard. 

OeDEB CABKrVOEA— PIjESH-EaTBKS. 

The Grizzly Bear (1. Ursiis horribilis) stands at the head of the 
rapacious order, although its little relative, the raccoon, is nearer the 
monkeys in many respects. "Grizzlies" were formerly numerous in 
nearly every county of the State, and so many accounts of their fero- 
cious depredations have been published, that every one is sufficiently 
acquainted with the character of the animal. Now, however, they 
have become scarce in the more populous counties, the American rifie 
having destroyed or driven them away, and their audacity is so much 
diminished, that they are scarcely dangerous unless suddenly surprised 
in their dens, or wounded. "When seen at some distance they usually 
walk away with a slow and dignified pace, showing that all they want 
is to be let alone. Their food, like that of their relatives, is in great 
part vegetable, and they have not, therefore, the bloodthirsty disposi- 
tion of many of the more carnivorous animals. Though formerly con- 
sidered untamable, they are now often seen in menageries, and show 
gi/eat sagacity, though too rough to be safely played with. Their skins 



436 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CjVLITOEXLV. 

are of little or no value, and only the appetite of a famishing hunter 
can relish the flesh of an old one. 

The Black Bear (2. Ursus Americanus) is limited to the counties 
north of San Francisco bay, and the higher part of the Sierra Nevada. 
It is exactly the same animal found in the Atlantic States, and differs 
from the grizzly not only in color, but in anatomical characters. The 
hair is also much softer, and the skin of considerable value for robes, 
etc. It is rather a timid animal, usually nocturnal in its travels, and 
generally runs away at the first suspicion of being hunted. Occasion- 
ally its depredations on young pigs, calves, etc., make it an object of 
the farmer's vengeance, and its meat is pretty good eating. The skin 
is worth four to eight dollars. The bears called "cinnamon" and 
' ' brown " are believed by naturalists to be merely varieties in color of 
the grizzly and black species, as litters of young are found vai-ying 
through almost every shade between these colors, although there is 
nothing indicating mixture of the two species. There is, however, 
some reason to think that the brown bear of Mexico, a smaller kind, 
may be found in our southern counties. It is mentioned in the United 
States and Mexican Boimdary Report as Ursus amhlyeeps, Baird. 

The Eaccoon of Western America (d. Procyon Hemandezli) differs 
from the Eastern species only in som6 unimportant anatomical charac- 
ters. It has the same mischievous, playful disposition, like that of 
the monkeys, and is often tamed as a pet. It is hunted only for sport, 
or for its skin, which is little used; but its flesh is considered good 
eating by many. Being very much an arboreal animal, it is scarce in 
proportion to the absence of timber, becoming rare in the southern 
counties. Its depredations on the hen-roost occasionally make it the 
victim of the farmer and his dogs. The skin is worth only from ten to 
twenty-five cents. 

The American Badger (4c. Taxidea Americana) takes the place of the 
raccoon in the woodless districts and the forests, where its burrows 
may be seen excavating the ground in every direction — being dug in 
pursuit of squirrels or other small quadrupeds. Being mostly sub- 
terranean in its habits, unable to climb or to run fast, it does no injury 
to the farmer, but on the contrary benefits him by destroying large 
numbers of vermin. Its hair is coarse, its skin worth only about 
seventy-five cents to one dollar, and its flesh is almost uneatable. 

The Skunks are allied to the badger, but less subterranean, hunt- 
ing what small birds, eggs, insects, etc. , they can find on the gi-ound, 
and, though slow-paced, find so much food as to be usually fat. Two 
species are common here. The large kind (5. Meplulis occidentalis) is 



ZOOLOGY. 4B7 

very mucli like that common in the Atlantic States, but larger, and black 
with two -white stripes. The other, (6. Mephitis bicolor), found only west 
of the Mississippi, is only a third the size of the preceding, and has 
several white stripes and spots. The fur being long, soft and finely 
variegated, is used to some extent by furriers, who can eradicate the 
well-linown odor of the animal. The skins sell to them for ten to 
forty cents each. 

The Glutton, or Wolverine, (7. Oulo luscus), resembles a skunk in 
form, but is as large as a sheep, though with short legs. A few are 
killed every winter in the snowy heights of the northern Sierras. 
They are noted principally for robbing the hunter's traps, possessing 
great strength for their size, and dropping from trees on the necks oi 
deer which they kill by biting through the blood vessels. Their skins 
sell for one dollar to three dollars and fifty cents each. 

The Fisher (8. Mustela Pennantii) is also a straggler from the snowy 
north to the summits of the Sierra Nevada, where a few are annually 
killed. The skins are worth from one to four dollars each, and well 
known as a material for capes, etc. This animal is chiefly arboreal, 
and found only in the dense timber, where it hunts birds and small 
quadrupeds, combining the habits of the dog and cat in its manner oi 
securing prey. 

The American Sable, or Marten, (9. Mustda Americana), is also found 
in the high Sierra — ^but is rare. Its beautiful fur is well known, and its 
habits are like those of its larger relative — the fisher. The skin is 
worth from one to three dollars in its undressed state. 

The Mink ('10. Putorius vison) is more common in the northern parts 
of the State, and identical with the mink of the Eastern States. Its 
fur is fine, but less valuable than the preceding. It is a more aquatic 
animal, living much on fish, but often seeking the barnyard to prey on 
fowls at night. Its "pelt" is worth three to four dollars. 

The Yellow-cheeked "Weasel (H. Putorius xanthogenys) is peculiar to 
this State, as far as known. It is very prettily marked with brown and 
yellow stripes on the head, but its fur is too short to be of value, and 
its strong odor makes it an undesirable pet, although it might become 
useful as a rat-catcher, if tamed. 

The California Otter ('11. Luira Californica) is common in fresh 
water streams throughout the northern half of this State. It differs 
only in some anatomical characters from the otter of the Atlantic 
States and Europe, and its fur is of some value. As is Avell known, it 
lives entirely on fish, and is easily tamed, becoming quite docile aad 



438 THE NATXTRAL 'WEALTH OF CAXITOENIA. 

playful in captivity, -when taken young. The skin is worth from four to 
five dollars here. 

The Sea-Otter, (13. Enhjdra marina), limited to the North Pacific 
Ocean, is much more aquatic in habits than the land otter, and goes 
very far from shore, thus forming a link between the latter and the 
seals. Formerly very abundant along our coast, its valuable fur has 
made it such a prize to the hunter that it is now rarely seen, and only 
killed with great difficulty, on account of its wariness and rare occur- 
rence out of the water. Very little is known of its habits, and speci- 
mens even of the bones are very scarce in museums. It has been 
reported as formerly a common visitor to the larger rivers of this 
State; but steamboats and hunters have recently kept it away. The 
skins sell at from thirty to one hundred dollars each to furriers, who 
export them chiefly to China. 

The Cougar, also called American Panther, and California Lion, 
(\4:. Fdis concohr) is a species identical throughout North America, and 
also found in South America, where it is called puma, etc. It is com- 
mon in the wooded portions of the State, and dangerous when irritated, 
though cowardly and nocturnal in habits. It is often killed when 
preying on the farmer's stock, attacking chiefly young animals. Its 
flesh is rarely or never eaten, and its skin worth only seventy-five cents 
to one dollar. 

The Jaguar (^15. Felis mica) is much more like the panther of Asia, 
being beautifully spotted. A few have undoubtedly been killed in this 
State, but it is now very rare, though common in Mexico and South 
America, whence most of the skins are brought, selling here for one 
to four dollars. The Ocelot (Felis eyra ?) is said to be found in the 
southern part of California, but has not been recently confirmed as a 
native. 

The Wild Cat, or Eed Lynx, (16. Iajtix rufus), is abundant throughout 
California, and noted chiefly for its destruction of poultry, young 
lambs, etc. It is identical with that of the Atlantic States, but there 
is a suspicion that the larger and darker colored lynx of Oregon (Lynx 
fasciatus) may also be found in the northern part of this State. Their 
skins are worth ten to sixty cents only. 

The American Civet Cat, called Eaccoon-Fox, and Mountain Cat, 
/17. Bassaris astuta), is found quite frequently in the lower Sierras, 
extending north from Mexico. It is a great pet among the miners, 
noted for playfulness and gentleness, hunting mice, rats, birds, etc., 
and having much the habits of the domestic cat. Its fur is rather 
coarse and valueless. 



ZOOLOGY. 439 

The Gray Wolf (18. Canis occidentcdis) is common in the northern and 
higher districts of the State, as well as throughout the country. Its 
worthless and cowardly character is too well known to need further 
notice. The skin is worth from one to two dollars. 

The Cayote (19. Canis latrans) is found only in or near the region of 
plains. It combines the characters of the wolf and fox, and its skin 
is so valueless that it is even of less consequence than the latter, the 
best bringing only one dollar. 

Of foxes, no less than seven species have been described as inhab- 
itants of this State. They vary exceedingly in color, and but two well 
marked species can be founded on differences in their forms. These 
are, first, the Long-tailed Fox, (20. Vulpes macrourus), which shows the 
most variation in color, ranging from black to red, with a mixture of 
gray. The silver variety has been named as distinct, but is said to 
occur in the same litter with all the other shades. Its skin is some- 
times worth twenty-five dollars. Some of them are marked by a cross 
on the shoulders, and then called cross fox. The smaller red fox of 
the Atlantic States {Vulpes fulvus) is also said to have similar varieties, 
and may perhaps occur in this State. 

The Gray Fox (21. Vulpes Virginianus) seems to be identical with 
the Eastern animal, and differs in many respects from the others, its 
coarse fur being less valuable, and its habits quite different. 

The Island Fox (22. Vulpes liUoralis) is confined to some of the 
southern islands, and seems to be merely a small local variety of the 
gray fox. 

The Swift Fox (23. Vulpes velox) is a small kind found on the desert 
plains of the interior, and seems a stunted form of the Eed or Long- 
tailed Fox. A similar variety occurs on the islands. All these species 
except the silver variety are worth from two to four dollars each for 
their skins. 

The Seal family furnishes several interesting examples along our 
coast. The Sea-Lions are the most generally known, as they resort 
in large numbers to the rocks and islands near the shores, where, if 
unmolested, they allow a very near approach, and opportunities of 
observing their curious habits. At Seal Kock, near the Golden Gate, 
they are among the chief attractions to visitors, who resort there in 
thousands from the city during fine weather. There are similar local- 
ities all along the coast, and their not unmusical roaring, mingled with 
the sound of the waves, gives an animation to the sea-beach not found 
on our eastern shores. Several species have been named, but there 
is still some doubt as to the number, as the females are only a third 



MO THE NATUKAIi -WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

the size of the males, and appear to have been named as distinct ani- 
mals. Both sexes also vary in size on different islands, those of the 
Farallones being a third larger than those of Santa Barbara island. 
Investigations now in progress will decide the question, and the scien- 
tific names already given may be mentioned here merely for future 
reference. (24. Arciocephalus Gillespii. 25. A. 3Ionteriensis. 26. A. 
Calif ornianus, the latter, perhaps, the same as Otaria Stelleri.) The 
Arctic sea-bear (A. ursinus) probably does not come so far south, nor 
does the walrus (Rosmarus ohesus.) 

The larger Sea-Lions of the Farallones are of little or no value com- 
mercially, as they do not furnish oil enough to pay for the trouble and 
expense of trying it out. The smaller kind of Santa Barbara Island is, 
however, hunted annually by two or three companies of sealers, who make 
a profit from about six weeks' work in May and June, but do nothing at 
sealing the rest of the year. The oil is very impure and dark, and is 
used by the tanners to dress leather with, for which purpose most of it 
is exported to New Tork. Little, if any use has been found for the 
skins, and the carcasses are left where they are killed. Being fish- 
eaters, these animals are not very sanguinary in disposition, but rather 
cowardly, although the males fight fiercely together, always shuffling 
off into the water on the approach of men, especially where they are 
much hunted. All these seals have fur of a very similar quality, and 
their skins, known as hair-seals, sell for only twenty-five cents to a 
dollar apiece, being those of young animals only. 

The Leopard Seal (27. PJwca Pealii ?) is a small species common on 
rocks and in bays. It is beautifully spotted, in the same manner as 
the leopard, but with duller colors, and its skin is of very little value, 
the hair being thin and coarse. Being very timid and much persecu- 
ted by idlers who make a mark of every animal they see, whether they 
can use it or not, these animals have become cautious and are difficult 
to approach. They go high up the rivers where the water is clear, in 
pui'suit of fish, as do the young sea-lions. 

There is a species of Fur-Seal, (yet undetermined scientifically,) 
which visits the Farallones and other islands on our coast, in small 
numbers, being probably the same foimd abundantly on the coast of 
Alaska, where the skins form a considerable article of traffic, the price 
being from one dollar to two dollars and fifty cents each. 

The Californian Sea-Elephant (29. Macrorhinus angustirostris) was 
formerly abundant at some seasons on the islands of our coast, but has 
been exterminated or driven away by the persecutions of sealers, so 
that few or none can now be found north of San Diego, They resemble 



ZOOLOGY. 441 

the animal so-called foutid near Cape Horn, but have recently been 
determined to be a distinct species not mentioned ia any work on our 
Natui-al History before 1866. Tbey are about equal to tbe Arctic wal- 
rus in size, the males especially, which have also a short proboscis 
from which their name is derived, though they have not the elephantine 
tusks of the walrus. They are said to yield as much as sixty gallons of 
oil apiece, while the sea-lions only furnish ten or twelve, and to be 
about twelve feet long. Being stupid and easily killed, this curious 
and valuable animal was destroyed on our coast by the cupidity of the 
sealers in a very few years after the annexation of California. It is 
to be hoped that some means may be devised to encourage their return 
and increase along our shores. 

The " Californian " opossum, (Didelpliys Califomica), though thus 
named, has not been found by naturalists north of the Mexican boun- 
dary. It closely resembles that common in the Atlantic States, and in 
many respects forms a sort of link connecting the Carnivorous with the 
Insectivorous order. Otherwise, it needs no mention here. 

Oedee Insbctivoba — Insect-Eatebs. 

The Insectivorous order of Mammals is a sort of miniature series, 
suited for keeping in check the increase of the insect world, just as the 
Carnivorous kinds do the larger animals. There are not many spe- 
cies known to inhabit this State, and they are little known, their habits 
being chiefly subterranean or nocturnal. 

The "Western Mole, ('30. ScdLops Toivnsendii), is the most common 
and universally known. It may be considered beneficial to agriciilture, 
as it eats only insects, and the harm it does is chiefly by uprooting 
seeds and young plants, in its search for their enemies. A very slight 
inspection of its form and teeth should enable the gardener to distin- 
guish it from the destructive gophers to be hereafter mentioned. Its 
mode of burrowing is also quite difierent. 

A Star-nosed Mole (31. Condylura macroura?) is supposed to be 
found in California, but not recently obtained. It is remarkable for 
having a curious excrescence on the end of its nose. 

There are two or three species of Shrews found in the northern and 
mountainous parts of this State, but scarcely ever seen, and then, 
usually confounded with mice. They resemble these in form of body 
and limbs, but have the head and minute eyes of the mole. They are 
nocturnal, and when a cat catches one she leaves it uneaten, on account 
of a peculiar odor possessed by all the animals of this order. (32. So- 
rex vagrans. 33. Sorex SiuMeyi. 34. Sorex ?) 



442 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA. 

Obdee Cheiropteka. 

The Bats of this State are also Insectivorous, but form a distinct 
order, on account of their wings, and some tropical species also lire 
chiefly on fruits. 

One found near Fort Yuraa, (35. Macrotus Calif or nicus), besides 
being the largest United States species, has a curious leaf-shaped ex- 
crescence on the nose, like many tropical bats. 

Another, found in the desert east of the Sierra, has ears nearly half 
as large as its wings, (36. Synotus Townsendii.) The other species found 
here are more or less of the ordinary form of small bats, and need not 
be especially mentioned. There are about fifteen species known in all, 
of which nine are also found east of the Eocky Mountains. Full infor- 
mation respecting them is given in Allen's Monograph of North Ameri- 
can Bats — a Smithsonian publication — 1864. (37. Nyctinomus nasutus. 
38. Lasiurus noveboracensis. 39. L. cinereiis. 40. Scotojphilus fuscus. 
41. 8. noctivagans. 42. S. hesperus. 43. Vespertilio suhvlatus. 44. V. 
evotis. 45. V. lucifugus. 46. V. dbscumis. 47. V. Yumanensis. 48. V, 
nitidus. 49. V. macropus. 50. Antrozous pallidtis.) 

Oedee Kobentia — Gnawees. 

The ' ' Gnawers " are largely represented in this State, whose luxu- 
riant plains and rich forests furnish them with abundance of roots, 
grains and mast. 

The Beaver, (51. Castor Canadensis), identical throughout North 
America, is quite common in parts of this State where water abounds, 
as in the Sacramento, San Joaquin and Colorado rivers. Many are 
killed every winter, but their skins are not so fine as those of more 
northern regions. They do no special damage, unless by undermining 
levees, and are so timid as to disappear about as soon as settlements 
require such embankments, giving place to their relatives, the musk- 
rats, which are far more destructive. The skin is worth from one to 
two dollars per pound— averaging throe to five dollars apiece. 

The "Sewellel," or "Mammoth Mole "of the miners, (52. Aplo- 
dontia leporina), is a very curious animal peculiar to this coast. It has 
many characters like the beaver, but no tail, and is not web-footed, 
though burrowing chiefly in wet places. It is found in the higher and 
more northern part of the State — but little is known of its habits. Its 
fur is of little value, and its flesh poor eating, though preferable to the 
fishy beaver. It connects the latter animal with the marmots. Their 
skins are not distinguished by furriers from those of the muskrat, and 
being smaller, are worth only about ten cents each. 



ZOOLOGY. 443 

The Yellow-bellied Marmot, also called "Woodcliuck and Ground-Hog 
(53. Arctov^jsflaviveniris), is found in the northern mountainous parts of 
California, and resembles in size, habits, etc., the animal so-caUed ia 
the Eastern States. They are occasionally tamed as pets, and also 
eaten, though rather coarse, and the skin is used in the country for 
caps, mittens, etc., being worth only about ten cents. Another species 
may, perhaps, be found here. 

The Grey Ground-Squirrels (54. Spermophilus Beeclieyi, and 55. 8. 
Boioglassn) are so numerous and destructive in all parts of the val- 
leys that are not annually inundated, as to be one of the most serious 
pests of the farmer and gardener. No. 55 is confined to the northern 
part of this State and Oregon, but differs very little from the more 
southern species. They are of the size of a half-grown cat, and have 
a long, bushy tail, like the tree squirrel; but do not ascend trees, 
except occasionally for food, making their dwelling in the ground, 
which in many places is full of their burrows for miles together. 
Although difficult to exterminate, they will probably, in a few years, 
become as scarce in the settled districts as the Eastern squirrels now 
are in places where they formerly destroyed nearly all the crops, and 
had a premium placed on their heads. Our species are considered 
pretty good eating when properly prepared. There are three other 
species of this genus not half the size of the above mentioned, and 
more interesting for their beauty than injurious. 56. S. elegans is gray 
and reddish ; its tail short and flat. It inhabits east of the Sierras. 
57. S. lateralis is rich brown, with one white and two black stripes on 
each side — iahabiting the high Sierras. 58. S. Harrissi is gray, with 
a white stripe on each side, and is found only in the desert plains 
of the southeast part of the State. None of them furnish skins of 
any commercial value, although the Siberian squirrel, of the same 
genus, supplies a well known and fine fur. 

Of the true squirrels, inhabiting forests only, we have two spe- 
cies. The large Hare-Squirrel (59. Sciurus leporinm) is common in the 
mountains from Santa Cruz north. It is the largest and most beautiful 
North American species, and considerably larger than the ground 
squirrels; its fur a fine clear gray, with an exceedingly bushy tail longer 
than its head and body. It is a favorite game for himters and supplies 
a dainty dish for the table, whUe it is not numerous enough to be 
destructive anywhere. 

The Piue-Squirrel (60. Sciurus Douglassii) is not a quarter the size of 
the other — dark brown, pale below, with a black stripe on each side. 



444 THE NATtlBAL WEALTn OF CALIF0R^1A. 

It is found north of San Francisco bay and in tlie Sierras, and is only 
interesting as a pet. 

The Cliipmonks, also called Striped Ground-Squirrels, furnish us 
■with two species. The larger kind (61. Tamias Toivnsendii) is nearly ol 
the size of the pine squirrel, and inhabits both ranges of mountains, 
as far south as Santa Cruz. The other, (62. T. quadrivittatus), a littlo 
smaller, is found in the higher Sierras, and eastward to the Eocky 
mountains. They are beautiful little animals, living in the ground, 
but ascending trees for nuts, etc., not difficult to tame, especially the 
last, which is often the familiar guest of the miner's cabin. 

The Western Flying Squirrel (63. Pteromys Oregonensis) is ascer- 
tained to be found as far south as Cape Mendocino, and probably 
extends much further. It is twice as large as that found in the East- 
ern States, with fur beautifully soft, and it will no doubt make as inter- 
esting a pet as that docile little species, but on account of its nocturnal 
habits, very little is yet known respecting it. 

The Mouse family and its relatives count largely both in numbers 
of species and individuals. Of those allied to the house-mouse, we 
have three species, all originally from the Old World. These are the 
common mouse (64. 3Ius musculiis), the Norway rat (65. M. decuma- 
nus), and the black rat (66. 31. raltus), all accompanying the spread of 
settlements and driving out the native species, while the black rat is 
driven out by its larger relative wherever introduced. Albinos of all 
are found, especially of the last. 

The Wood-Mice and Prairie-Mice are the natives of the soil, and six 
species are found in various parts of the State, resembling in general 
form the house-mouse, but larger, and of different colors, proportions, 
and anatomical structure. They are of no great interest except to 
naturalists, or lovers of nature, as they do little or no injury to the 
crops, and are soon exterminated. (67. H. Gambelii; 68. H. austerus; 
69. H. BoyUi; 70. H. Sonoriensis ; 71. H. Californicus ; 72. H. eremicus.) 

The Wood-Eats have a similar relation to the introduced rats, and 
abound in certain districts, building high nests of twigs in the woods, 
but retire before cultivation. One kind (73. Neotoma occidenfalis) found 
in the higher and more northern mountains, has a tail very much like 
that of a squirrel. 74. N. Mexicana, and 75. N. fuscipes, have bristly 
tails. 

The Field-Mice are common in low meadows, burrowing in the 
ground, and having short legs, tails, and ears, appreaching the form 
of the gOT)hers. Six species are found in various parts of this State, 
but have not jei excited mucli attention by their depredations, although 



ZOOLOGY. 445 

their allies in the East are often destructive. As tlie larger rodents 
are destroyed, and the small carnivorous animals which eat them also 
vanish, these little mice become numerous. (76. A. Tovmsendii; 77. 
A. montana; 78, A. longirosiris ; 79. A. edax; 80. A. Californica; 81. A. 
Oregoni.) 

The Muskrat (82. Fiber zibetJiicus) is like an immense field-mouse, 
as large as a cat, with webbed feet, and bare, flattened, narrow tail. 
They are undoubtedly found in this State, though rare in the districts 
inhabited by their aquatic rival, the beaver. As the latter is destroyed, 
they will probably increase, and become as destructive to levees, 
ditches and dams, as they are in the East. Their flesh is uneatable, 
and the skin has a value of only ten to fifteen cents at the wholesale 
dealers. 

The Jumping-Mouse (83. Jaculus Bkdsonius) is a little animal allied 
to the jerboas, with elongated hind-legs and tail, but without cheek- 
pouches like the similar kangaroo mice. It is found in our higher and 
northern regions, as well as eastward, but is only interesting as a 
matter of curiosity, or as a pet. 

The Pouched Mice, called Kangaroo Mice and "Gophers," form a 
peculiar American family, most ■ numerous on the western slope. The 
latter name, derived from the French, means '^' digger" and is also 
applied to species of burrowing tortoise found in the southern Atlan- 
tic States and California — an instance of the uncertainty of popular 
names. The kangaroo mice have very long hind legs, much in the pro- 
portions of the Australian kangaroos, and like them can Jump amazing 
distances for their size. The larger kinds are two species, foiind in 
most parts of this State, and as large as a half-grown rat. They live 
chiefly in woods or shrubbery, but sometimes make a home in a retired 
house, where their hoppings may be heard in the garret at night. 
Their pouches are in their cheeks, not in the abdomen, as in the kan- 
garoo, which belongs to the opossum tribe. (84. Dipodomijs agilis; 
85. D. PMlippii.) 

The smaller kinds are also of two species, difiering from the above 
in shorter limbs and tails, as well as in anatomical characters. They 
inhabit the more dry and sandy districts. Both burrow in the ground 
and live on seeds, being shy and harmless as far as known. (86. Perog- 
natlwLS parvus; 87. P. ^penicillatus.) 

The "Gophers" furnish us with five species in California, difier- 
ing in size, color, and somewhat in form. The largest is that most com- 
mon in the middle counties near the coast, (88. Thomomijs hulbivorus), 
and is a great pest to the gardener, burrowing under and destroying 



446 THE NATDBAL 'WEALTH OF CALTFOENIA. 

many kinds of roots and vegetables. They are kept out by deep 
trenclies or destroyed by the gun, poison, traps, dogs and cats, and yet 
they are worse to exterminate than the larger squirrels. They vary 
from the size of a mole to that of a large rat, and though the fur is soft, 
it is of no value. Fidl details regarding the anatomy and much of the 
habits of all the small Rodents, may be found in the Pacific Eailroad 
Eeports: Zoology, vols. VI, VIII, X, and XII. (89. T. laticeps, con- 
fined to the northwest counties ; 90. T. borealis, found northward and 
on mountains ; 91. T. umbrinus, found in the southeast quarter : 92. 
T.fulvus, found in the southern parts only.) 

The Yellow-haired Porcupine (Erethizon epixanthus), is found in the 
northern mountainous regions of this State. It is of the size of a 
poodle dog, and resembles closely the Atlantic coast porcupine, except 
in the color of the hairs which are mixed with the short spines. The 
animal lives wholly on the leaves and bark of trees, and being easily 
discovered by the stripping it causes, is soon destroyed, being slow 
in its movements and not concealing itself much. 

The Hare family supplies us with six species differing in size and 
color, which abound in the open gi'assy districts. The larger ones oiJy 
are called hares, (94. Lepus campestris; 95. L. callotis; 96. L. Californi- 
cus), and are each limited to particular regions, the last being the most 
numerous west of the Sierra Nevada. 

The smaller kinds, called Eabbits, (97. Lepus artemisia; 98. L. Au- 
dubonii; 99. L. Trowbridgii), are also somewhat similarly distributed, 
but the two latter occur together throughout most of the western slope 
of the State. None of them burrow like the true imported rabbit. 
Their habits are similar to those of the European hare and of our East- 
ern rabbits, and they are about alike for food. The quality of their fur 
is also very similar in aU, and of little value. The L. campestris turns 
white in winter. 

The Eat-Eabbit, (100. Lagomys princeps ?), sometimes called the 
"Coney," and "Little Chief," is a curious animal, with the general 
appearance of a young rabbit, as large as a rat, but with no iail, and 
with large round ears, the hind legs rather short. It inhabits the Al- 
pine summits of the SieiTa Nevada, among enormous granite boulders 
and banks of perpetual snow, where it must sleep away two thirds of 
the year. 

OeDEB RUITDTANTIA — CDD-ChEWEES. 

The Elk, or "Wapiti, (101. Cerviis Canadensis), was formerly abund- 
ant in most portions of the State, and is stiU common in the forests of 
the nortliern counties, while some exist in the marshes of Tulare valley. 



ZOOLOGY. . 447 

A-isiting tlie uplands in ■winter. Their skins are worth twelve to seven- 
teen cents per pound. 

The White-tailed Deer (102. Cervus leucurus) inhabits the middle 
and eastern parts of the State, and is scarcely, if at all, distinct from 
the common deer of the Eastern States (0. Firginiamis). It is, how- 
ever, more rare than the black-tailed. 

The Mule-Deer (103. Cervus macrotis) seems to be limited chiefly to 
the Eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, whence it extends to the Eocky 
mountains. It is remarkable for its long mule-like ears and large size. 

The Black-tailed Deer (104. Cervus Columhianus) is by far the most 
common species throughout the State, especially west of the Sierra 
Nevada, and is quite common a few miles from San Francisco. It has 
longer limbs, ears, and tail than the C. Virginianus, the tail black above, 
and also differs in color of the body. The skins of all these deer are 
worth twelve to twenty-five cents per pound. 

The American Antelope (105. Antilocapra Americana) was formerly 
found in large herds throughout the dry plains and valleys of Califor- 
nia, but is now much restricted in range, though still to be seen in 
the Salinas and Tulare valleys, as well as east of the Sierra Nevada. 
Its meat is inferior to that of the deer, and its skin of little value, bring- 
ing only eight to fifteen cents per pound. 

The Mountain Sheep, or "Bighorn," (106. Ovis montana), is found in 
the higher parts of the Sierra Nevada, and on the mountains east of 
them, but is not often killed on account of its extreme wariness. It is 
deserving of domestication on account of its size — twice that of the 
domestic sheep — its skin, and enormous horns, out of which the north- 
em Indians make many useful utensils. At the time of the first visit 
to Monterey bay by the Spaniards they found these animals living in 
that vicinity. 

OEDEK CeTACEA — PiSH-MKE MaMMAIiS. 

The "Whales and their smaller relatives, the Porpoises, abound along 
our coast, and the business of killing them for oU is carried on profit- 
ably at several points, especially in the winter and spring, by com- 
panies who attack them in boats, shoot them with the harpoon-gun, 
and tow them ashore to try out the oil. On account of the difficulty of 
studying and comparing such enormous animals the species are not 
well determined, but are known to belong to the following genera, and 
to differ in most instances from those of the Atlantic. 

The "Eight Whale" (107. Balcenamysticetiis?) is believed by whalers 



448 THE NATUKAL WEALTH OF CALITOKNIA. 

to be the same species foimd entirely around the Arctic circle. A few 
are killed every year along this coast. 

The "California Gray" (108. Balcena ?) is peculiar to this 

ocean, but perhaps found near Japan. It is nearly as large as the pre- 
ceding, and furnishes most of the oil obtained by shore-whalers, as it 
migrates north and south near the coast in the spring and fall. 

The ' ' Humpback " (109. Rorqualus ?) is so called from a prom- 
inence connected with the dorsal fin, pecvdiar to this genus. It is not 
a favorite with the whalers. 

The Fin-back (110. Rorqualus ?) is an allied species which does 

not grow large nor furnish much of the oil collected on our coast. 

The Sperm Whale (111. Phi/seter macrocephalus) is generally con- 
sidered identical in all tropical oceans, and occasionally wanders into 
temperate seas, but is never killed from the shore unless one should 
happen to get stranded. They are, however, killed near enough to be 
counted as Oalifomian, and many cargoes of their oil are annually 
shipped from San Francisco to the East. 

The "Black-Fish" (112. Glohicej^halus ?) is a small, round- 
headed whale, sometimes killed, but not of much economical import- 
ance. 

The Bay-Porpoise (113. PJiocosna ?) is a large species, some- 
times killed for its oil, but not generally considered worth hunting. 

The Dolphin-Porpoises (114. Delplihvus ?) are of two or three 

species, not over five feet long, and rarely, if ever, killed for any jpur- 
pose, though the flesh of some species is considered eatable. 

The Killer (115. Orca ?) is a kind of Porpoise that goes in com- 
panies, and is said to kill the smaller whales by springing from the 
water and coming down vertically on their heads. 



BIRDS. 

Of this class three hundi-ed and fifty species have been positively 
ascertained to occur within the limits of California, and yet many trav- 
elers have asserted that there is a great deficiency of ornithological 
life, and especially of singing birds. Without undertaking to describe 
nearly all the species, which our limited space prevents, we can easily 
show that all the orders of birds "common to temperate climates are 
well represented. The error has arisen partly from the small amount 
of migration occurring among them in consequence of our equable 
climate, and partly from the fact that the usual routes of travel pass 



ZOOLOGY. . 449 

tlirougli the most open plains at a distance from the groves, and where 
in the dry season comparatively few birds remain. In the following 
brief notices an attempt is made to distinguish some of the species by 
mentioning their most striking characters, but this usually applies only 
to the males, the females and young being often quite different hi 
colors, as are the males of many small birds in winter. 

lAKD BIRDS. 

Oedeb ScAjfsoEBS — Climbees. 
. These birds are analogous to the monkeys among mammals, suited 
for a life among or on the trees, but also capable of living in a variety 
of conditions, and therefore entitled to rank the highest of their class. 
The parrots are familiar to every one in a domesticated condition, and 
are well known to excel all others in intelligence. None of these have 
yet been found native within our limits. 

The Eoad-Runner, Chaparral Cock, Paysano, Snake-killer, Eacer, 
etc., for it is called by all these popular names (1. Geococcyx Californi- 
anus), is nearest allied to the cuclcoos as indicated by its generic name, 
meaning ground-cuckoo, but presents us with a curious modification 
of that arboreal family, suited for existence in nearly treeless regions, 
and has therefore been always a puzzle to amateur ornithologists, 
many of whom insist that it is an ally of the pheasant, because it can 
run swiftly, seldom ascends trees (and then only by jumping or climb- 
ing), and can only fly at a downward inclination. They therefore assert 
that it must be a good game bird, although it feeds on snakes, lizards, 
etc., and is in every respect unfit for food. It is, however, one of the 
most curious and interesting birds of this State, having no representa- 
tive in the East, and but one in Mexico. 

The Yellow -billed Cuckoo (2. Coccygus Americanus) is found in the 
interior valleys in summer, as well as in the Atlantic States, where it 
is often called Eain Crow, on account of uttering its cackling notes so 
frequently before a rain, as to be considered a very good prophet 
Here, however, there is little or no rain during its residence, which is 
only from April to September. It has not the peculiar habit of the 
European cuckoo, which has given that bird a dishonest reputation; 
but is a robber of birds-nests, like its relative just mentioned, and of 
no particular interest except to lovers of nature. 

The Woodpecker family has no less than fifteen species in this State, 

nearly all distinct from the eastern, and among our most beautiful 

birds. The typical genus has five small species, of the group often 

called Sapsuckers, although the little iujury they do to the bark of 

29 



450 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

trees is fully compensated by their destruction of large numbers of 
insects. They are usually mottled or barred with black and white, the 
males with red caps; but one species is black, with a white head. (3. 
Picus Harrisii ; 5. P. Gaird)ieri; 6. P. Nuttalli ; 7. P. scalaris ; 8. P. 
albolarvatus.) From one to three of these species, together inhabit 
the various wooded portions of the State; the two last only the more 
eastern. 

Next to these is the Arctic "Woodpecker (9. Picoides arcticus), found 
with us only in the subalpine mountain regions, whence it extends to 
the northern limit of forests and the northern Atlantic States. It is 
remarkable for having only three (instead of four) toes on each foot, a 
yellow cap and black and white body. 

The fourth group (10. Sphyrapicus nuchalis; 11. S. ruber; 13. S. 
WilUamsonii ; 13. S. thyroideus) are handsome birds of various plu- 
mage, rarely seen out of the forests, where they fi'equent chiefly the 
deciduous trees, and are said to subsist in part on the inner bark of 
these, as well as on berries and insects. All are confined chiefly to the 
Sierra Nevada, except the second, which visits the Coast Bange in win- 
ter near San Francisco, and is to be known by its blood-red head, neck 
and breast. 

The Pileated "Woodpecker, or Log Cock, (14. Hylatomus pileatus), is 
the only one with a true crest of elongated red feathers found here, 
(and also in the East). It is also very large, being equal to a pigeon in 
size. It is found in the denser forests, feeding on the insects it extracts 
from rotten wood, and is almost entirely black except its crest. On 
account of this crest, which careless observers suppose to be like a 
cock's comb, it is absurdly called "Woodcock, and thus confounded with 
a game-bird of the snipe family not found on this coast. 

The Gila "Woodpecker (15. Centurus iiropygialis) is a beautiful species 
of middle size, found only along the lower Colorado and southward. 

The California "Woodpecker (16. Ilelanerpes formicivorus) is often 
called "Carpintero," which is, however, only the Spanish name of all 
these "hammerers." It is one of the most beautiful species, common 
west of the Sierras and in Mexico, its plumage varied with steel-blue, 
red, yellow, black and white. It is remarkable for the habit it has of 
boring numerous holes in the soft bark of trees, in each of which it 
places an acorn, accurately fitted and driven in. These acorns usually 
contain young grubs, which eat out the contents of the nut, and having 
. grown large, becomes dainty food for the provident bird. 

Levds' Woodpecker, called also the Collared, (17. M. torquaius), is a 
• very beautiful bird, dark-gi-een, with red on head and breast. It is not 



ZOOLOGY. 451 

very industrious, preferring to catch insects in every way except by 
pecking decayed wood, and living largely on fruits. It is common in. 
all except the southern counties, especially in coniferous forests. 

The "Flickers," or "Highholes" (18. Colaj^tes Mexicamis, and 19. 
C. cJirysoides) are peculiar woodpeckers, with curved bills, of rather 
large size, the first with the quills and tail-feathers red beneath, the 
latter having them yellow. Their beautiful plumage is otherwise very 
similar, but too varied to describe here, and nearly resembles that of 
the eastern species (G. auraiiis) generally well known. They live in 
great part on berries, and on ants, which they search for on the ground, 
thus showing some resemblance to the ground cuckoo. Being large 
and common, they are often killed and eaten, though inferior for the 
table. The second species is found only in the southeast counties. 

OsDEK Eaptokes — ^BrRDS OP Peet. 

These are analogous to the Carnivorous Mammals, and like them 
give us three groups of species, which may be called diurnal, nocturnal, 
and carrion-eaters, although these are not the only characteristics dis- 
tinguishing them, nor strictly natural, any more than such divisions of 
carnivora are. The diurnal birds of prey, on account of their ferocity 
and noble appearance, which only hides a tyrannical character, are the 
kings of birds in the same sense as the lion is of beasts, but as much 
below the parrot in intellect as the lion is below the monkey. 

The "White-headed Eagle (20. Ealicetus leucocepJialus) usually 
adopted as the emblem of the United States, is an abundant species 
wherever it has not been exterminated by the murderous gun. The 
Spanish settlers encouraged them on account of their destruction of 
ground squirrels, and they seem rarely to have violated the trust thus 
shown them by killing domestic animals, although they undoubtedly 
will sometimes destroy a young ox, weakly lamb, or fowl. Partly to 
prevent this, partly for the empty honor of "killing an eagle," the 
American settlers are destroying them so fast that soon they will be 
scarce enough to satisfy the most destructive mind. 

The American Golden Eagle (21. Aquila Canadensis) is much less 
numerous, but occasionally seen along the coast, preferring the lofty 
mountains. It is large, yeUowish-brown, and its legs are booted with 
feathers down to the toes. 

The Fish-Hawk (22. Pandion Carolinensis) is allied to the eagles, 
but lives entirely on fish, which it catches by diving, and is found near 
aU the clear waters of the State, both fresh and salt. 

Two other large eagle-like birds, with some resemblance to vultures. 



452 THE NATURAL ■WEALTH CF C.U.IFORNXV. 

are found, biit rarely, in tlie southeast part of the State, and have been 
described by various authors under the following names : (23. Craxirex 
unicmctiis, 24. Pohjborus tliarus.) 

The Buzzard-Hawks are next in size and more numerous. The 
"California Squirrel-hawk" (25. ArcMhuteo femiginens) is the most 
common, being found all the year on the borders of the plains inhab- 
ited by the squirrels, of which they destroy great numbers, but, like 
their relatives, unfortunately do not distinguish between wild and tame 
birds, so that they often feel the vengeance of the farmer. Their large 
size and feathered legs distinguish this species. Another smaller one 
(26. A. lagopus) comes from the north in winter, and is much more 
marked with white. A A^ariety or species entirely black is also some- 
times foiind, {A. Sancti Johannis, named from resemblance to the black 
eagle of St. John, represented in old pictures.) 

Another group, often called Chicken-Hawks and Buzzards, have the 
legs bare, but otherwise resemble the preceding. There are so many 
forms differing but little except in color, that naturalists are puzzled 
whether to consider them of two or more species. Eight have been 
described as found in this State, which are of two groups as to size, 
and may be considered analogous to the varieties of color found among 
oiu- wolves and foxes. Besides this, the yoimg of the first year are very 
similar in all. The larger group is about half the size of the Eagles, 
comprising Buteo borealis, and varieties (?); 27. B. montaniis; 28. B. 
calurus; 28. B. Coopen-i; B. Harlanl; the last nearly all black. The 
other comprises Buteo Swainsoni, and varieties (?); 30. B. insignaius; 
B. Bairdli; B. oxypterus; 32. B. zonocercus; the last again black, but 
perhaps a good species. (Those not numbered have not been de- 
tected in California.) The three first of the large group have red 
tails when matiire, while the smaller ones all have the tails banded, as 
do the young of the others. All these are heavy, slow-flying hawks, 
feeding usually on small birds, mice, etc., but sometimes catching do- 
mestic poultry, and usually shot on suspicion by farmers, although ifc 
might be better to merely use very fine shot, which would sting them 
and drive them to their wild prey without killing them. 

The Marsh-Hawk (33. Circus Hudsonius) is a very common, large, 
and well known kind, found about eveiy level plain and marsh, where 
they kill mice and small birds, rarely attacking poultry, and soon learn- 
ing to let it alone. The white rump is a conspicuous mark of the spe- 
cies, though the younger birds are elsewhere brown, and the old ones 
ash-color above. It is found throughout North America. 

The ■^Tiite-tailed Hawk (34. Elanus lucurus) is about haU the size 



of the last ; a beautiful gray and wliite bird, with black shoulders. Its 
habits are similar, and it is found, rather rarely, near this coast, as well 
as near the Gulf of Mexico. 

A more bold and destructiye group, although smaller than most of 
the preceding, may be distinguished as Hawks proper. There are three 
species, scarcely differing except in size, especially in their young plu- 
mage, in which most of them are killed. They are more light and 
slender in form, with longer limbs, but weaker claws and bills, yet they 
do not fear to attack birds larger than themselves, and are among the 
kinds most destructive to poultry, their swiftness enabling them to catch 
it imawares. The largest is about the weight of a hen — the smallest that 
of a jay. (35. Accipiter Cooperii; 36. A. Mexicanus; 37. A. fuscus.) 

The Goshawk (38. Astur atricapillus) is similar in form, but larger 
and scarcely ever seen far from the thick forests where they hunt ducks, 
rabbits, and other animals of similar size. This species is found only 
in Northern America. 

The Falcons proper are by many considered typical of the birds of 
prey, though smaller than the eagles, etc. , but they show much resem- 
blance to the owls, though diurnal, and are analogous to the foxes. 
We have four species. 

The Western Duck-Hawk (39. Falco nigriceps) frequents the sea- 
shore chiefly, and, though only a quarter the size of an eagle, boldly 
seizes ducks and other birds as large as itself. Being swift and strong, 
it is one of the most destructive species, and often carries off a fowl to 
its inaccessible nest among the cliffs before the faplner knows it has 
been near. 

The Hare-Hawk (40. Faho polyagrus) holds a similar position inland, 
and is, of course, more destructive to fowls, but its wariness protects 
it much more than the sluggish and larger buzzards. 

The Pigeon-Hawk (41. Falco coluinharius) is of the size of a pigeon, 
and proportionately destructive. It is also common in the East. 

The Sparrow Hawk (42. Falco sparveriiis), also numerous throughout 
America, is of the size of a Jay, beautifully colored, and can be con- 
sidered only as a benefactor to the farmer, as it lives on mice and small 
birds, never attacking chickens unless they are very young. 

The nocturnal species are all called Owls, although some are nearly 
as much like hawks. If the Lion family is the highest of Garni vora, as 
some contend, so are the owls among birds; for they are strictly 
analogous, and both have members nearly or quite diurnal in habits. 

The Great Horned Owl (43. Buho Virginianus) is common through- 
out North America, and of the size of our largest Hawks. It lives 



454 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA. 

chiefly in forests or caves, and preys only at night, occasionally taking 
a chicken off the roost if exposed, and is said even to kill tiu'keys. 
Like other owls, however, they kill more rats and mice than anything 
else, because those animals also move about at night and are more 
easily found than the roosting birds. There are three smaller species 
found here which have little tufts of long feathers on the head called 
"horns " or "ears, " though apparently designed only to make them look 
like cats. 

The Short-eared Marsh Owl (44. Bracliyotus Cassinii) visits us only 
in the cold months, when large numbers of them are sometimes seen in 
the meadows, hiding in long herbage, and in cloudy weather hunting 
mice, etc., by day. They are haK the size of the last, pale in color, 
and do little or no damage. 

The Long-eared Owl (Olus Wilsonianus) is much smaller, gi'ay, and 
lives permanently in all parts of this State in hollow trees. They 
occasionally visit the farm-yard at night, but do not molest full-grown 
poultry. 

The Mottled Owl {Scops asio) is common like the last in all of North 
America, and lives in similar localities. Being smaller than a pigeon 
they do little or no harm — in fact, sometimes take up a residence in the 
dove-cot without apparently killing any of the old birds, though a great 
terror to them and all smaller kinds. 

Of the Smooth-headed Owls, the Barn Owl (47. Strix pratlncola) 
is about equal in size to the short-eared. It is found in nearly aU the 
United States, and closely resembles the Barn Owls of Europe and 
Australia. Though fond of barns, ravines and caverns, they often con- 
tent themselves with the shelter of thick bushes, and ought to be pro- 
tected, as they are found by close observation to live almost entirely on 
rats and mice. They are yellowish above, pure white beneath. 

The Great Gray Owl {Syrnium clnereum) is as large as the Great 
Horned Owl, or larger, and found only in dense forests thi'oughout the 
more northern and subalpine parts of America. 

The "Western Barred Owl {Syrnium occidentale) has been found so far 
only at Fort Tejon. It is marked by bars or bands of color, passing 
entirely round the body like the Eastern species. 

Two little species allied to these are rare in this State. They are 
smaller than Pigeons, and frequent the forests, doing no harm. (50. 
Nydale Acaclica, and 51. JSf. albifrons.) 

The Burrowing Owl (52. Athene cunicularia) is numerous and well 
known, being almost diurnal in habits, and living in bui-rows made by 
the ground squirrels, though sometimes bui-rowing for itseK. It is of 



ZOOLOGY. 455 

the size of a pigeon, and destroys many mice and insects. Altlaougli 
fotmd in western South America, it differs from the species found east 
of the Eocky Mountains, (A. Tiypogcea.) 

The Gnome Owl (53. Glaucid'mm gnomd) is also partly diurnal, 
only about six and a half inches long, its legs densely feathered, and 
lives chiefly on insects. It inhabits only the western slope of North 
America. 

Whitney's Owl {3Iicraihene Whitneyi) is stiU smaller, its legs nearly 
bare, and has been found so far only in the Colorado valley. Its habits, 
as far as known, are like those of the last. 

The Yultures, although classed with the birds of prey, are rather to 
be called scavengers, as few species attack any living animals unless 
diseased or helpless. They have not the talons of the other species 
with which to seize prey, and their beaks are not so strong and sharp. 
They are thus analogous to coyotes or jackals. 

The California Vulture (55. CafJiartes Californianus) is remarkable 
as the largest land bird that flies north of the Andes, where the much 
larger Condor is met with. It is, however, scarcely heavier than a large 
turkey, and not so wide in spread of wings as our Albatross. This flne 
bird is found throughout the western slope of North America, and 
abounds where herds of large animals are to be seen, soaring gener- 
ally at such a height as to be almost imperceptible, until it perceives a 
dead or dying animal, even at a distance of many miles, when it sweeps 
rapidly down to it, and in some districts a dozen vultures gather to 
the feast in a few minutes, from the distant sky, where none were 
visible to human vision before. As a useful bird, this and the next 
should be protected by law from reckless slaughter. This species 
may be distinguished at a great height by its wings having a white 
patch underneath. 

The Turkey Vulture, also called Buzzard, (56. Cathartes aura), is 
only about half the size of the other, and is named from its bare 
head and neck being red, like those of a turkey. It is more common 
and found in nearly all the United States. 

Obdeb Insbssoees — Pebchees. 

This division of birds includes most of the smaller land species, 
and may be conveniently divided into the omnivorous, insectivorous, 
and granivorous groups, corresponding to the Clieiroptera, Insectivora, 
and Rodentia of mammals. Although this arrangement is not the most 
scientific, it is the most intelligible, and as nearly correct as is neces- 
sary for our purpose. 



456 THE NATUllAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA. 

Group First — Omnivorous FercJiers. 

It has already been stated that many climbers are omnivorous, and 
so are some of other orders. The present group comprises some lately 
included among the singers, but not properly musical, unless taught 
to whistle, being very imitative. 

The American Eaven (57. Corvus carnivorus) is a common bird in 
California, especially in desert regions. It has many of the habits 
of the vulture, being a scavenger, though occasionally killing small 
animals for itself. 

The Western Grow (58. Corvus caurinus) is a third smaller than the 
raven, and more gregarious, but otherwise much resembles that bird. 
It appears to differ from the eastern species. 

Nuttall's, or the Yellow-billed Magpie (59. Pica Nuttalli), is common 
in the valleys west of the Sierra Nevada, and a very beautiful bird, 
differing but little from that of Europe. It has the same cunning, mis- 
chievous habits, and eats anything it can catch or steal. The Black- 
biUed Magpie {Pica Hudsonica) is probably also found east of the 
Sierras. 

Steller's Jay (60. Cyanura Stelleri) is a dark blue species, with black 
head and crest, found in all the coniferous forests along this coast. 

The California Jay (61. Cyanodtta Cali/ornica) is a light blue, im- 
crested species, inhabiting the oak and other woods in the valleys. It 
is known from the nest by being white beneath. 

Maximilian's Jay (62. Gymnokitta cyaiwcephala) is entirely dark blue, 
crestless, and inhabits the juniper gi'oves near the summits and east- 
ern slopes of the Sierras, feeding on berries and anything else eatable. 

The American Nutcracker, or Clark's Crow (63. Picicorvus Colum- 
hianus), is a sort of Jay inhabiting the pine forests near the crests of 
the Sierra and northward, feeding on their seeds, occasionally on 
insects and berries. It is light gray, with black and white wings, and 
very noisy, large flocks chattering through the forests. 

The Canada Jay (64. Perisoreus Canade^isis) is only about half the 
size of the other jays, light gray like the last above, and yellowish-white 
beneath. They are scarce in this State except near the summits of the 
mountains, and extend north to the Arctic circle. 

The Belted Kingfisher (65. Ceryle Alcyon) is abundant along this 
coast and throughout the United States. It seems to feed wholly on 
fish, but some foreign species eat insects and berries. It is said that 
the smaller Green Kingfisher (Ceryle Americana) is found along the 
Lower Colorado, as well as on the Bio Grande and southward. 



ZOOLOGY. 457 

Group Second — Insectivorous Perchers, 

This includes a large number of species, of which we can only men- 
tion particularly the most striking or interesting. 

The Flycatchers are mostly rather plain plumaged birds, Kving 
chiefly on insects which they catch on the wing, though usually sitting 
perched on some high branch or shrub, watching until their prey comes 
near. The first genus comprises those called King-birds, Bee-birds, 
and Tyrants. The first is black and white, the other two gray, white 
and yellow — ^all with a red spot in the middle of the crown, and about 
six inches in length. Only the first is found east of the Mississippi. 
(66. T yr annus Carolinetisis ; 67. T.veriicalis; 68. T. voci/erans). Another, 
of similar habits, is smaller and plainer, without a red crown. (69. 
Myiarclius Mexicanus.) 

Two species are of the same genus as the well-known and favorite 
Pewee, or Phcebe, of the East, and similar in habits. The first, black 
and white, is a constant and familiar resident about houses west of the 
Sierras. The other lives in summer on their eastern side, only visiting 
us in winter. It is mostly brown in color. (70. Sayornis nigricatis, and 
71. 8. say us.) 

Then we have a group of six small, plaia species, which are scarcely 
noticed except by naturalists, though each has peculiarities interesting 
to the lover of nature. (72. Contopus borealis; 73. Empidonax BicJiard- 
sonii; 74 K Traillii; 75. E. flaviventris; 76. E. Hammondii; 77. E. 
oiscurus.) One alone of the northern flycatchers has a brilliant red 
color, with black wings, and this is found only along the Colorado and 
southward. (78. PyrocepJialus Mexicanus) 

The PoorwiU (79. Antrostomus Nuttalli) is only half as large as the 
eastern Whippoorwill, and its nocturnal cry sounds like "Poor Will,'' 
as if answering in a plaintive, pitying tone, the harsh command of that 
bird. It is a summer visitor, and common in many wooded districts, 
though oftener heard than seen, being nocturnal. 

The Night Hawk (80. Chordeiles popetue) is the same species found 
throughout the Atlantic States, and also visits us in summer, but 
remains during that season in the northern part of the State or on high 
mountains. The night hawk family has the same relation to the fly- 
catchers, as have the owls to the true hawks. 

The Humming-birds, those tropical gems, are more partial to our 
State than any other north of Mexico, and one or two species even 
spend the winter with us. All are distinct from the single species 
found in the Eastern States. 



458 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

The Purple-throated Hummer (81. Trochilus Alexandri) is green, 
with the throat a brilliant violet-pm-ple. It frequents the valleys near 
the coast. The Eufous Hummer (82. Selasphorus rufus) is fox-colored, 
with the throat brilliant scarlet, and frequents only the coast and high 
mountains in summer, going far north of us also. The Broad-tailed 
Hummer (83. Selaspliorus platycercus) is green, with a red throat, and 
is found east of the Sierras. The Anna Hummer (84. AttMs Anna) is 
the largest we have, green, with the entire head brilliant metallic-red. 
It is common along the coast, and winters in the southern counties. 
The Coast Hummer (85. AttMs costce) is found also inland to the Gila 
river ; it is green, the entire head metallic-violet. The Calliope Hum- 
mer (8G. Callothm-ax calliope) is a little known Mexican species, found 
as far north as Fort Tejon. 

The females and young of all are very similar to each other, metallic- 
green, without the more brilliant feathers of the head or throat. They 
all eat small insects as well as suck honey from flowers. 

The Swallows are numerous in species and individuals, forming two 
groups, one plain, the other quite varied in plumage. The first are 
also allied to the hummers in anatomical characters. They are called 
"swifts," and " chimney swallows, " although none of them among us 
inhabit chimneys, but prefer lonely forests or rocky cliffs, where little 
of their habits has yet been observed. (87. Panyptila melanoleuca, 
88. Neplioccetes niger, 89. CJiceiura Vauxii.) 

Of the true swallows we have seven species. The Bank Swallows 
(90. Cotyle riparia, and 91. C. serripennis) are plain brown and white 
little birds, nestling in holes burrowed in sand-banks, and found also 
eastward. The Barn Swallow (92. Hiriindo horreorum) is well kno^^^l 
as an inhabitant of the entire country. 

The Cliff Swallow (93. H. luni/rons) is much more abundant here, 
and its bottle-shaped nests of mud are built in every favorable situa- 
tion throughout the warm parts of the State. 

The Bicolored Swallow, (9-i. H. hicolor), dark-green above, white 
below, is also common, building in knot-holes, bird houses, and other 
similar places, and some remain in this State throughout the year. 

The Sea-green Swallow (95. H. thalassina) is a small kind, varied 
with rich green, purple, black and white, frequenting the oak groves, 
and not foixnd in the East. 

The Purple Martia (96. Progne purpurea) is a large and beautiful 
swallow, common in summer in all the interior of the State, where it 
shows the same familiar disposition, and gives us the same musical 
notes as in the Atlantic States. 



ZOOLOGY. 459 

The Waswing (97. Ampelis garrulus) is a beautiful bird, found 
tlarougliout Northern' America and Europe, but rare in this State as 
far as known. The smaller species, often called Cedar-bird, or Cherry- 
bird (98. Ampelis cedrorum) is common in the regions where berries 
abound, and is increasing in numbers as the small fruits are more cul- 
tivated, though living in great part on insects also. It is very similar 
to the preceding, but smaller, and when fat considered very good eating. 

Two birds allied to these, and peculiar to this coast, deserve notice. 
The Shining Flycatcher (99. FJiainopepla nitens) is a beautiful steel- 
blue-black species, found along the Colorado and Sierras, possessing 
some melody of song, unlike the waxwings. 

Townsend's Flycatcher (100. Myiadestes Toimisendii) should be 
called a nightingale, on account of its charming song, and resembles 
that celebrated bird in its plain brownish plumage, varied with white. 
It seems to frequent chiefly the juniper groves on the eastern flanks of 
the Sierras, occasionally appearing on their western side. It resem- 
bles in appearance tlie king-birds. 

The Shrikes, or Butcher-birds, are of two species. The Northern, 
(101. Lanius horeal'is), found also in the northeastern States in winter, 
is very much like the mocking-bird in general appearance, but has 
little melody, and is notable as the most rapacious of our insectivorous 
birds, killing even mice and sparrows, which it either eats, or leaves 
suspended on a thorn or branch until wanted. The Western Shrike 
(102. L. excubitoroides) is a common resident throughout the State, and 
is often seen perched on a telegraph-pole or wire, watching for grass- 
hoppers or young mice. 

The Greenlets, or Vireos, seem to come nearest to the shrikes, 
though quite different in plumage, being more or less olivaceous, 
yellow, and white. We have three or four small species, difficult to 
distinguish from Eastern kinds, but all easily known to the field natu- 
ralist, by the differences in their melodious songs. They live entirely 
in the groves, each preferring peculiar kinds of trees, feeding on 
insects and berries. (103. Fireo Swainsonii, 104 V. solitarius, 105. 
V. Huitoni, 106. V. pusillus). 

The Tanagers are among our most brilliant plumaged songsters. 
The Summer Tanager (107. Pyranga cesiivd), common in the Atlantic 
States in summer, is also foujid in the Colorado valley. The male is 
entirely brilliant red; the female olive. 

The Western Tanager (108. Pyranga Ludoviciana) is yellow, wings 
and back black, head red; the female entirely yellowish. This species 



460 THE NATIIRAL WEALTn OF CALDTOEXIA. 

spends tlie summer in this State and northward, and is brilliant both 
in plumage and song. 

The Yellow-breasted Chat (109. Icter'm longicauda) is olive-green 
above, yellow beneath. It scarcely differs from a common Eastern 
species, and is one of our finest songsters, frequenting river banks and 
thickets, where it sings in summer both by day and night, often flying 
at the same time with antic jerks and odd notes, as if it held the place 
of buffoon among the small birds. 

Twelve small species follow, known by the general name of War- 
blers, and as only those who have the desire and means of obseiwing 
them closely, can know the many interesting facts connected with the 
variations of their beautiful plumage, the sweetness of their songs' and 
the details of their habits, we must limit this notice to the names by 
which further information may be obtained from other authors. (110. 
Geotldypis trichas; 111. G. MacgiUivrayi ; 112. HdminthopJiaga celata; 
113. H. ruficapilla; 114. H. JJucice; 115. Dendrceca occidental is ; 116. 
D. nigrescois ; 117. D. coronata; 118. D. Audubonii; 119. D. cestiva; 
120. D. Toionsendii ; 121. Myiodioct.es pusillus.) Numbers 110, 112, 
113, 117, 119 and 121 are found also in the Atlantic States. 

The American Titlark (122. Anthus Ludovicianus) is a little bird of 
plain brownish plumage, visiting the whole United States in winter; 
to be seen running along roads, water-courses, and roofs of houses, 
even in the cities, pursuing insects, and constantly jerking its tail. In 
its far northern summer resort it is said to show fair musical powers in 
the spring. 

■ The Water Ousel (123. Hydrdbala Mexicana) is a very curious bird, 
little larger than a sparrow, entirely slate color and with a short tail, 
which lives on the shores of mountain torrents and feeds on water 
insects, which it obtains by diving, swimming, walking or flying, under 
water. Though not web-footed, it shows more power of locomotion in 
this element than many truly aquatic birds, and has besides a sweet 
song usually uttered during spring, as the male sits on some rock in 
the brook, and the female is perhaps on its nest. This is built entirely 
of mosses, generally under a dam or rill Avhere the water trickles over 
the roof, keeping the nest green and thus concealed. The Thrush 
family, of which the Ousel is one, furnishes us with several other 
species. 

The Robin-Thrush (124. Tardus migratoritts) though resembling the 
European robin only in its red breast, has also become a favorite in 
America. It is well known as a good singer, familiar and harmless in 
habits, and unfortunately is considered good eating in winter. With 



ZOOLOGY. 4G1 

US it spends the summer in tlie wooded mountains, but wanders in 
-winter throughout the State. 

The "Oregon Eobin," (125. Turdus ncwius), much more beautiful, 
but an iixferior singer, is only a -winter -nsitor to California. It is of 
a fine, clear gray above, the breast orange-bro-wn, -with a black belt, 
two orange stripes on the head, and two o^n each wing. 

Two smaller and plain bro-wn Thrushes, with spotted breasts, are 
common here, the first only in our northern counties, in winter ; the 
second, smaller, and a constant resident. Both have a loud ringing 
bell -like song, -without variety, but enlivening the woods in which they 
live. (126. Turdus ustulatus, 127. T. nanus.) 

The "Western Bluebird (128. Sialia Mexicana) is dark-blue, -with the 
middle of back and breast chestnut, and is the common kind at all 
seasons in the lower districts. The Arctic Bluebird (129. Sialia arc- 
tha) is entirely sky-blue, and lives during summer about the sum- 
mits of the Sierras, visiting the coast only in winter. The bluebirds 
are, like the closely allied species of the East, great favorites, both on 
account of their beauty and song, being also very familiar if encour- 
aged to build a nest about the house. 

The Kinglets are the smallest of our birds, next to the Hummers, 
and like the Kingbirds, have a brilliant spot on the cro-wn of the head. 
The Golden-cro-wned (130. Regidus Satrapa) is found only in the high 
Sierras in summer, though common in winter in the colder Atlantic 
States. The Euby-crowned (131. Begidus calendula) is abundant in 
wiater throughout this State, but retires to cooler regions in summer. 
This also is a common Eastern winter bird. 

Between these and the true Wrens, we have a group of Thrush-like 
birds, generally plain in plumage, but containing some of the finest 
songsters in the whole feathered race. 

The famous Mocking-bird (132. Mimus polyglottus) is represented 
here by a form scarcely distinct, but with a longer tail than the Eastern 
bird. It has the same plumage, and the same brilliant variety of song. 
It is found only in the southern counties, and remains there in winter. 

The Bow-billed Thrushes, often called false Mocking-birds, come 
nearest to the Eastern Brown Thrush in appearance and melody; but 
our three species are uniform brown or gray, without spots on the 
breast. The only one common west of the Sierras is the first next 
mentioned, and this frequents dense thickets at all seasons, singing 
in spring with considerable melody and imitative powers. The other 
two are fo^ind in the Colorado valley and neighboring deserts, where 



462 THE NATUBAIi WEALTH OF CALIFOENU. 

they have precisely the same habits and sing similarly. (133. Harpor- 
hynckus redivivus ; 134. H. crissalis ; 135. H. Lecontii.) 

The Mountain Mocking-bird (136. Oreoscoptes montanus) is like the 
common mocker, but with a spotted breast, and is smaller. It is nearly 
equal in melody, and is confined to the southern and eastern parts of 
this State, extending to the Eocky Mountains. 

The Cactus-Wren (137. CampylorhyncJiiis hnmneicapiUus) is a link 
between the mockers and true wrens, but has only a few loud-ringing 
notes, which enliven the barren cactus thickets which it inhabits in the 
southern counties. It builds a large and curious nest, woven of grasses 
in the shape of a sleeve, and laid horizontally on the cactus bush. It 
is brown, the breast white and spotted. 

Of the Wrens proper, little brown birds, with various black and 
white markings, inhabiting hollow trees, buildings, rocks, etc., we 
have eight species, all presenting curious and interesting variations of 
song and habits which cannot be detailed in this brief summary. They 
are called, from the chief peculiarities of each, Mexican, Eock, Wood, 
Marsh, House, Winter and Ground- Wrens. (139. Catkopes Mexicamts; 
140. Salpinctes dbsoletus ; 141. ThryotJiorns Beivickii; 142. Cistotliorus 
palustris ; 143. Troglodytes Parkmanni; 144. T. hyemaUs ; 145. Chamoea 
fasciata.) The third, fourth and sixth are also found in the Eastern 
States ; the others are more or less diffused through California. 

The American Creeper (146. CertJiia Ame)-icana) is a curious little 
wren-like bird which lives only in the forest, chiefly northward, climb- 
ing up and down the trunks of large trees, from which it can scarcely 
be distinguished in color when at rest, and utters only a shrill, wiry cry. 

The Nuthatches are little birds, blue above, white or reddish 
beneath, and similar to the creeper in habits. Three species live in 
this State, the first also found eastward. (147. Sitta Canadensis, 148. 
S. aculeata, 149. 8. pygmcea. ) 

The Titmice are also very small, like miniature jays in appearance, 
and of various plumage. Three little leaden-blue kinds, with black 
and white tails, frequent low bushes in summer, with the habits of 
warblers, but little song. The first species is found also eastward, the 
others are limited to oiir southern and eastern counties. (150. Foliop- 
tila cceridea, 151. P. melanura, 152. P. plumhea). The Plain Titmouse 
is a little gi'ay-crested bird inhabiting the oak gi-oves, and having con- 
siderable imitative melody. (153. Loplioplianes inornafns). 

The "Chickadees," well kno-mi by their note, resembling this name 
in sound, are little gray birds, with black caps or stj-ipes on the head, 
found in the mountain regions, and all distinct from the Eastern and 



ZOOLOGY. 463 

European species of vei-y similar plumage. (154. Pcecila occidentalis, 
155. P. montanus, 156. P. riifescens). 

The Least Titmouse (157. Psaltriparus minimus) is a curious bird, 
scarcely larger than a hummer, but with a long tail for its size, and 
short Avdngs, its color plain grayish brown. They inhabit oak groves, 
going in flocks from tree to tree in search of insects or seeds. The 
nest is extraordinary for the bird, being a foot long, composed of 
mosses chiefly, and suspended from a branch, the entrance being in 
the side. 

The Yellow-headed Titmouse (158. Aurijjarus Jlaviceps) is a more 
gay plumaged little bird, inhabiting the Colorado valley, and south- 
ward. It also builds a large and curious nest of thorny twigs, laid flat 
on a branch, and with a hole in the side. 

The Shore-Lark (159. UremopJiila cornuta) is a pretty little bird, 
brown, with yellow forehead and throat, sometimes called horned lark, 
from long erectile tufts over the eyes. It is common at all seasons in 
the open plains and fields, and in spring sings sweetly while flying 
high in the air, like the European sky-lark. It is entirely a ground 
bird, never alighting on trees, and is found throughout North America. 

The Meadow-Lark (160. Sturnella neglecta) scarcely differs from 
the Eastern bird of same name. It is as large as a dove, mottled with 
brown, white, and black above, its breast yellow. Scarcely a gi-assy 
field or plain can be found in this State without them, and they are 
shot in considerable numbers on account of their size, and white, 
though tasteless flesh. Their sweet but brief songs are heard at all 
seasons where they abound. 

The "Western Oriole (161. Icterus Bullockit) is a very beautiful bird, 
brilliant orange, with black back and wings, the latter with a white 
patch. They are numerous in summer in every grove, and their songs 
are among the finest and almost constantly to be heard, while their 
preference for the vicinity of houses, harmlessness and beauty, make 
them as great favorites as their Eastern cousins. They build beau- 
tiful hanging nests. 

The Hooded Oriole (162. Icterus cucullatus) is found only in our 
most southern counties and in Mexico. It resembles the preceding 
in song and habits, but is not so brilliant in plumage. 

The Yellow-headed Blackbird (163. Xantlioceplialus icier ocepJial its) 
is a large species found only west of the Mississippi, the male black, 
with yellow head and a white patch on the wing ; the females plainer. 
They are gregarious, associating in large flocks, chiefly on the interior 
plains, and sometimes taking their pay for the grubs they destroy by 



464 THE NATXJE.V1 -WE.VLTH OF C.\irFOrvNTA.. 

eating a little grain. Their notes are harsh, and they are generally of 
little interest. 

The Eedwing Blackbirds are of three species, only the first of which 
is found in the East. The males are very much alike, differing chiefly 
in the red patch on the shoulder, -which, in the first is edged -with yel- 
low, in the second with white, in the third entirely red, the resj; of their 
plumage being black. The females are brownish. They frequent tlie 
inland marshes in immense flocks, and are more or less common about 
every wet tract, sometimes committing considerable depredations on 
grain fields, though at most seasons they live chiefly on insects. Their 
songs are very similar, without much melody, and they are deemed 
rather poor eating. (164. Agelaius joJiceniceus; 165. A. tricolor ; 166. 
A. gubernator.) 

The Purple-headed Blackbird (167. ScolecopTiagus cyanocephalus) is 
greenish black, the male with the head shining pui-plish ; the females 
brownish. They are the most common species in the drier parts of the 
State, but associate with the other blackbirds, and are found every- 
where. They accompany cattle in the fields, and follow the plough to 
pick up gmbs, etc. They have a rather harsh song, which, however, 
sounds well when they sing in concert. 

The Cow -Blackbird (168. Molothrus pecoris) is the same species found 
throughout the United States, but on this coast is less common, and 
keeps away from the sea-shore. It is well known from the peculiar 
habit of the feinale, a plain brown bird, of laying its eggs only in other 
bird's nests, never building itself, thiis resembling the European Cuc- 
koo. The male is black with purplish tints, the head and neck sooty- 
brown. It is the smallest of our species, and prefers the society of 
cattle, frequenting the trains crossing the plains in gi-eat flocks. Its 
song is harsh and unmusical. 

"We now come to the granivorous birds, known by a short, conical 
bill. The last named has nearly this form of bill, and indeed, nearly 
all after the Wrens eat seeds more or less, though not so exclusively as 
the following, and are sometimes called omnivorous. 

Group Third — Go-anivorovs Percliers. 

These are the birds which, on account of their living so much on 
seeds, are most easily kept in cages, though some of the preceding 
group sui-pass them as singers. They are divisible ia this country into 
two nearly equal series, the first notable for variety of coloring in the 
males, the second of very plain species. 

The Pipilos, often called Chewinks and "Ground Piobius," have 



ZOOLOGY. 465 

somewhat the form of the Molothnis. Two species are black, with 
breast and sides reddish, wings and tail spotted white, frequenting low 
bushes and oak groves, the second northward. (169. Pipilo megalomjx ; 
170. P. Oregonus.) Two others are plain brown, the second with black 
about the eyes, and found only east of the Sierra, while the first is 
common west of them. (171. Pipilo fuscus; 112. P. Ahertii.) The fifth 
species is grayish, with green wings and tail, and frequents the high 
Sierras in summer, {Pipilo cJilorurus.) None of them are very musical 
or otherwise important. 

The Blue Linnet (174. Gyanospiza amcena) is a beautiful little species, 
the male light blue, red, black and white; the female flax-brown. It is 
a common summer visitor, quite musical, and often kept in cages. It 
is the western representative of the Eastern Indigo-bird. 

The Blue Grosbeak (175. Ckiiraca cceridea) is twice as large as the- 
last, the male entirely rich deep blue, and a common summer resident 
in the interior, where they are sometimes kept in cages on account of 
their beauty and song. 

The Black-headed Grosbeak (176. Guiraca melanocepJiala) is a hand- 
some bird, varied with black, brown and yellow, abundant near the 
coast, and oftener kept in cages than the last, its song being a very 
loud and clear whistle. 

The Evening Grosbeak (177. HesperipJiona vespertina) is a very 
beautiful species, yellow, white and black, inhabiting chiefly the high 
motintains and tops of lofty trees. Its name is derived from its habit 
of singing very melodiously in the evening and at night, though from 
its retiring habits it has not yet been made a cage bird to our knowledge. 

The Pine Grosbeak (178. Pinicola Canadensis) is a species of a 
splendid purple when mature, inhabiting lofty pine forests near the 
summits of the mountains, and northward, occasionally visiting the 
Eastern States in winter. It has been kept in cages and found to be a 
fine singer. 

The Bed Linnets, or Purple Finches, are- smaller species common 
in various districts of this State, the first chiefly in the mountainsj the 
second on the eastern slope of the Sierras, the third in the valleys. 
They are all good singers, and often kept in cages, the last especially; 
where, however, the fine purple-red of the males frequently changes 
to yellow. (179. Oarpodacus Cali/ornicyus ; 180. C. Cassinii; 181. G. 
frontalis.) 

The American Crossbill (182. Gurvirosira Americana) is a curious 
bird also found eastward, in which the ends of the mandibles cross 
each other as if deformed, though this is intended to assist them in 
30 



466 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

twisting off tlie scales of tlie cones to get at the seeds. They frequent 
the higher pine forests in large flocks, and have considerable melody 
of song. 

The Tellow-birds, or Thistle-birds, are pretty little species, the 
first of which is also common in the East, and frequently caged, 
having nearly the musical powers of the Canary. The other two are 
smaller, the yellow darker and varied with black or gray. Their songs 
are similar, but weaker. All these frequent the open districts of this 
State in large flocks, though the first is most common northward. (183. 
Clmjsomitris tristis ; 184. C. psaltria ; 185. C. Lawrencii.) Another 
plainer species lives entirely on seeds of alder, etc., chiefly noisthward. 
(186. C. pimis.) 

The plainer colored Sparrows attract little attention, and are usually 
confounded by observers, some indeed requiring close comparison to 
be distinguished by naturalists, but many have sweet songs and inter- 
esting biographies, like the equally plain flycatchers and warblers. 
Some need particular mention. 

The Lark Finch (187. Chondestes grammaca) is an abundant species 
in the colder months, and in spring the males sing delightfully. The 
most peculiar marks they have, are three bro-\vn stripes on the head. 

The Gold-croAvned Sparrow (188. Zonoirichia coronata) has a large 
spot of yellow on top of the head. It is also a good singer in spring. 
The White-crowned Sparrow (189. Zonotrichia Gamhelli) is much 
more abundant, and may be recognized by three broad white stripes 
on its head. It has a rather plaintive but very sweet song, and is 
found in all parts of the State. 

The Song Sparrows we have of four or five species, all of plain 
brown colors with spotted breasts. They are sweet singers, and very 
domestic, never wandering far from the place of their birth in the 
garden or thicket. (190. Melospim riifina; 191. 31. Hermanni; 192. M. 
Gouldii; 193. 3£ fallax; 194. 31. Lincolnii). The last named, however, 
is less musical and is migratory. 

The other species must be enumerated without further notice, as 
they are not of special interest, or little is known of their habits. 
Some of these, however, will be fotmd fully detailed in works on our 
birds. (195. Passerculus SandivicJiensis ; 196. P. anthinus ; 197. P. 
alaudinus; 198. P. rostratus; 199. Pooecetes gramineus; 200. Amrrwdromits 
Samuelis; 201. Coturniculus passerinus; 202. Junco Oregoniis; 203. Poos- 
piza bilineata; 204. P. Belli; 205. Spizella socialis; 206. S. Breweri; 207. 
P^iuxea rujtceps; 208. Passerella Towrisendii; 207. P. megarkynchus) 



407 



ObDEB PuiiLASTE^ — PiGBONS, ExO. 



The only species we have of this order are Pigeons and Doves, but 
the Guans, Curassows, and the extinct Dodo belong to it, while others 
are found in the tropics. 

The Band-tailed Pigeon (210. Columhafasciatd) is a larger species 
than the common domestic kind, but similar in form, and of a slaty 
gray color with a purplish breast. It is abundant in the wooded parts 
. of California, and affords good sport as well as excellent food. It is 
not found on the eastern side of the continent. 

The Carolina Dove, better known here as the Turtle-dove (211. Zen- 
aidura Carolinensis) is a smaller species, with a long pointed tail, com- 
mon in all the United States, and often shot for its delicately flavored 
meat. 

The Ground Dove (212. Chamcepelia passerina) is a very smaU and 
pretty kind,- not larger than a sparrow, found in the soiithem Atlantic 
States, Mexico, and in this State, in the Colorado valley. 

OeDEB KASOBES — SCBATCHIKG BlEDS. 

These birds, represented by the domestic fowls, are well known as 
very useful to mankind. We have eight species iu this State, known 
as grouse and quails, or sometimes partridges. 

The Blue Grouse (213. Tetrao ohscurus) is a large species, equal to 
the largest domestic hen, of a slaty blue color when mature, the young 
mottled. They are found in the coast mountains north of San Fran- 
cisco bay, and in the Sierra Nevada, commg down lower and being 
more common as we go north. Living usually in thick forests, they 
are difficult to kill, but often furnish good sport and good eating. 
Many are brought to market in winter. 

The Sage-fowl (214. C'entrocercus uropJiasianus) is a fine species, the 
male as large as a hen turkey, with long pointed tail, and plumage 
beautifully varied with gray, brown, black, and white. They are found 
only in the dry regions east of the Sierra Nevada, and are brought to 
the markets of Virginia City, etc. They are splendid game-birds, and 
when properly prepared, excellent eating. 

The Sharp-tailed Grouse, or Prairie-Hen, (215. Pediocoetes Colum- 
hianus), is a species the size of the common hen, of a yellowish brown 
mottled color, its tail short and sharp-pointed. It is found in this 
State, only in the northeastern part, but abounds from thence east to 
the prairies of Illinois, where it is often confounded with the Pinnated 
Grouse. Keeping in much larger flocks than the Sage Fowl, and fre- 



463 THE NATURAi WEALTH OF CiXITOBXIA. 

quenting open meadows, grain fields, etc. , it is an excellent game-bird, 
and very suj^erior for the table. Attempts are being made to introduce 
■ it west of the Sierra Nevada. 

The Euffed Grouse, often called Pheasant and Partridge, (216. Bo- 
nasa Sahinii), is a beautiful species, very similar to that so called in the 
East, with a similar ruff of black feathers on the neck, and a band on 
the tail, but much darker brown. It is found in this State only towards 
the line of Oregon, living in the woods, and is considered a fine game- 
bird in every sense. 

The Mountain Quail (217. Oreortjjx pietus) is one of the most beau- 
tiful of our birds, ashy gray, the sides striped with reddish che.stniit, 
with patches of the same on throat and breast, and a crest of long, nar- 
row feathers turned hachwards on top of the head. It inhabits the 
higher parts of the mountains, chiefly in the northern half of the State, 
and is a favorite game-bird where it is found. 

The California or Valley Quail (218. Lophortyx CaLifornicd) is some- 
what similar in plumage, but has the forehead yellow, throat black, the 
crest shorter and turned forward at the ends of the feathers. It is the 
common species in all the lower region west of the Sierra Nevada, and 
much prized both by the sportsman and epicure. 

Gambel's Quail (219. Lophortyx Gambelli) is a very similar species, 
found on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, and in Arizona. 

All these are of about the same size, (the first a little the largest,) 

and in this fact only, resemble the Quail of the Atlantic States or the 

Partridge of Europe, but otherwise all are quite distinct birds, only 

confounded in popular language on account of the want of distinctive 

names. 

Oedkb GbaiiIiAtokes — Wadebs. 

These birds form a natural link between the land and water birds, 
some of them being usually considered as of the latter group, on account 
of their partially webbed feet and power of swimming. Nearly all these 
birds are eaten, though some of them are rather fishy, and others have 
a marshy flaA-or. 

The Brown or Sand-hill Crane (220. Grus Canadeims) is abundant 
in the colder months in our valleys, and a few breed in the mountains. 
When young, and especially if caught alive and fattened, they are 
nearly equal to the turkey for the table. Being easily tamed when 
raised from the nest, they are often kept as pets and allowed to run at 
large. Their food consists in part of roots and plants, unlike that of 
the similar Herons, which eat fish chiefly. Their height, when stand- 
ing, is nearly five feet. 



ZOOLOGY. 469 

The Great Blue Heron (221. Ardea herodias) is common about every 
stream or body of water in this State, and at all seasons -where unmo- 
lested. Being very shy they are not often killedj and are usually fishy, 
though young ones are pretty good eating. They are nearly as tall as 
the Brown Crane, but lighter. 

The Great White Heron (222. Herodias Egretta) is nearly as large as 
the Blue Heron, and snowy white, with black bill. It is common but 
very shy, and killed only for its fine plumes. It is about three and a 
half feet high when standing. 

The Little White Heron (223. Oarzetta caiididissima) is about a third 
of the size of the last, or two feet high. They are more gregarious 
than the large kinds, and even more shy. They also have beautiful 
plimies, but are of no value for any other reason. 

The Night-Heron, or Qua-bird (Nyctiardea Oardeni), is a beautiful 
bird, dark green above, whitish beneath, wings and tail grayish blue, 
with three long narrow feathers hanging from the back of the head. 
The young is grayish, mottled brown, and without the plumes. It is 
common in summer, but usually concealed during the day in thick 
woods or shady ravines, going out about sunset to fish in shallow fresh 
waters. Though rather fishy, they are often eaten. Their height, when 
standing, is a little over two feet. 

The American Bittern (225. Botaurus lentiginosus) is a mottled brown 
and yellowish bird, frequenting grassy marshes, and also quite noc- 
turnal in habits, though often startled from its retreat in the daytime. 
It is considered pretty good eating, and often called Marsh Hen, being 
about the size of a thin fowl in the body, but nearly two feet in height. 

The Green Heron, or Mud-poke (226. Butorides virescens), is a hand- 
somely variegated green bird, standing a foot and a half high, fre- 
quenting chiefly the banks of running streams. It is rarely eaten. 

The Least Heron, or Bittern (227. Ardetta exilis), is also varied with 
dark green, chestnut, gray, etc., and is little over a foot high, very 
slender, weighing only four or five oimces. They frequent chiefly the 
grassy borders of ponds or rivulets. 

The Wood-Ibis (228. Tantalus locidator) is called ' ' Colorado Tur- 
key " in this State, and " Gannet " in Florida, though very unlike either 
of these birds, a striking instance of the uncertainty of popular names. 
It is a white bird with black wings, nearly five feet high, and weighs 
over ten pounds. They are said to be very tough and oily, though 
eaten when skinned, in the absence of better food. In this State they 
are confined to the lower Colorado valley, but inhabit also the Southern 
Atlantic States, as do all the preceding waders. 



470 THE NATUEAL WEALTH 01? CU-ITOEXLV. 

The Glossy Ibis (229. Ibis Ordii) is a beautiful bird, reddish choco- 
late, -with green and purple wings, closely resembling the Egyptian 
sacred Ibis. The young has the head and neck grayish. It is not rare 
in the extensive marshes of this State in summer, and often shot and 
sold by the name of "Black Curlew," being pretty good eating. It is 
about two feet in height, and as heavy as a hen. 

Of the Plover family there are several species, three of which are 
from the size of a dove to that of a pigeon, and therefore considered 
game, though the others are sometimes shot and eaten. All are 
usually fat and very good eating. 

The Swiss, or Black-bellied Plorer, (230. Squafarola Helvetica), is 
the largest, and frequents the sea-shore in small flocks in winter. It 
is not so good as those found inland. It is also found on nearly all 
sea-coasts. 

The Golden Plover (231. Charadrius Virginicus) is nearly as large, 
and beautifully spotted with small round yellow dots, which are -want- 
ing in winter, the whole bird being then of a light gray. They chiefly 
frequent grassy plains in large flocks, and are also common in the 
Eastern States. 

The Mountain Plover (232. ^gialitis montanus) is a smaller, 
brownish-gray bird, formd only west of the Mississippi, frequenting 
the dry plains in summer, in pairs or broods, and in winter coming west 
of the Sierra Nevada, especially southward, where they form large 
flocks. As game, they are very similar to the last, and usually very fat. 

The Killdeer (233. ^gialitis vociferus) is a pretty bird, frequenting 
brook-sides, very unsuspicious, and often noisy, its name being derived 
from its common note. It is scarcely a game bird. There are two 
other little species found along the sea shore, the first in -winter, the 
second constantly. They are not larger than blackbirds, and not often 
shot imless in flocks of sand-pipers. The first is called Eing Plover, 
the second Sno-wy Plover, and both are prettily marked about the head. 
(234. JEgialilis semijpalmatus, and 235. JE. nivosa). The Surf-bird 
(236. Aphriza virgata) is a rare and little kno-wn species, found on 
rocky coasts among the foam of the waves in winter. It is more prop- 
erly a bird of the Sand-wich Islands and South America. 

The Oyster-Catchers are rather larger than pigeons, and oiu- \nvo 
species are black with red bills, the first with red feet, the second 
white beneath. They are not very common, but found along rocky or 
sandy shores, where they feed on shell-fish, the bill being flattened 
like an oyster-knife for the purpose of opening the shells. (237. 



ZOOLOGY. 471 

Hcemaiopus niger, and 238. H. palliatm). The last is also found on 
the Atlantic coast. 

The Turnstones are similar, but not half as large, and in summer 
plumage much yaried in colors, but here usually found only black and 
white. They chiefly frequent the rocky sea coasts, and are good eat- 
ing, though rarely killed. (239. Strepsilas interpres, and 240. S. melan- 
oceplialus). The first is also common eastward, and on the old con- 
tinent. 

. The Avocet (241. Becurvirostra Americana) is nearly all white, with 
black patches on the back. It is sometimes called White Curlew, but 
its bill turns up instead of downwards. It frequents shallow pools 
away from the coast, and is often killed in large numbers, being nearly 
as heavy as a quail, though slender, and over a foot in height. 

The Black-necked Stilt (242. Himantopus nigricollis) is nearly as 
tall as the last, but remarkably slender in all parts, its body not 
weighing half as much. It is rather rare and solitary in habits, fre- 
quenting the borders of clear water, chiefly inland. 

The Snipe family may be distinguished from the preceding long- 
billed and small waders by being of a mottled brown, black, and 
yellowish pattern of colors. The American Snipe (243. Gallinago Wil- 
sonii) is usually called "English," but differs from any species of the 
old continent. It frequents the soft marshes and fields in great num- 
bers in the colder months, and affords excellent sport to the gunner, 
besides being the best small game-bird for the table. They weigh 
about three ounces. 

The Long-billed and Eobin Snipes do not differ much in plumage, 
but the first is the largest, and more partial to fresh water ponds, while 
the latter frequents salt marshes, often in large flocks. They are both 
shot for market, though inferior to the preceding as food. (244. Mac- 
rorampJius scolopaceus; and, 245. S. griseus.) 

There are several little species of Sandpipers, from the size of the 
preceding down to that of a Sparrow, which much resemble each other 
while visiting us in the colder months, and are usually confounded by 
gunners as various ages of one species, though differing much both in 
anatomical characters and in summer plumage. They frequent chiefly 
the brackish marshes near the seashore, and are shot in large numbers, 
from ten to fifty being killed at one shot, so densely do they fly, several 
species usually together. The first and largest is distinguished as Jack- 
Snipe, the others often called Sand-Snipe. The last has only three 
toes on each foot, like the Plovers. (246. Actodromas maculata; 247. 
A. minutilla; 248. Pelidna Americana; 249. Ereimetes occidentalis; 250. 



472 THE NATLTI.UL AVEALTH OF CALIF0EN1A. 

Calidris arenaria.) All of this family are also found in the Atlantic 
States, and some also inland, especially Nos. 243, 244, 246. 

The Willet (250. Sympliemia semipalmata) is a large bird, about 
equal in size to a Pigeon, gray, with white and black wings. It fre- 
quents bays, and is brought to market, although inferior to many other 
birds as food. It is found in all parts of America. 

The Yellow-legs (252. Ganibetta melanoleuca) is nearly as large, and 
thickly spotted with white. It is more solitary, but found in all marshy 
places, where its vigilant whistle often alarms other birds and brings 
on it the gunner's vengeance, though it is a poor bird for the table. It 
■ is also called Tell-tale, Tattler, and Stone-Snipe. 

"We have also three smaller species, ranging from the size of a Jay 
to that of a Sparrow, and usually found solitary, or in small families. 
The first frequents only the rocky shores and islands of the Pacific. 
The other two are found about fresh waters throughout North America. 
(253. Heteroscelm brevipes; 254. Ehyacophilus soUtarius; 255. Tringoi- 
des macular iiLS.) 

The Buff-breasted Snipe, or "Grass Plover," (256. Tnjngites rufes- 
cens), is found throughout America and Europe, chiefly in grassy, and 
often dry places. It is like a short-billed Snipe, as large as a Dove, 
and though solitary, a good game-bird. 

The Godwit, (257. Limosa fedoa) is often confounded with the Cur- 
lews, which it resembles in colors, but has the bill turned upwards. It 
is of the size of a Pigeon, and frequents chiefly the seashore of the 
whole western continent. It is eighteen or twenty inches long, (the 
bill four to five), and is a good game-bird. 

The Long-billed Curlew (258. Numenius loncjirostris) is the largest of 
the Snipe family, measuring eighteen inches without the bill, which is 
seven to nine inches long, and sometimes weighing nearly two pounds. 
They frequent the mud-flats, and also the grassy plains of the interior, 
feeding there on grasshoppers, and are considered among our best game- 
birds. This species is found throughout the United States. 

A smaller Curlew (259. Numenius Hudsonicus) is found occasionally, 
migrating along our coast in spring and fall, as they do along the east- 
ern coast. They are a third smaller, weighing about one pound. 

The Phalaropes are little snipe-like birds, with lobed webs along the 
margins of the toes, and able to swim actively, as they do, both along 
the sea-shore in little lagoons, or far out at sea, where their presence 
often misleads the mariner to suppose that land is near. They visit us 
only in winter, though one species is supposed to spend the summer 



ZOOLOGY. 473 

about our mountain lakes. (260. Phalaropus hyperhoreus ; 261. F. fuli- 
carius ; 261. P. Wilsonii?) 

The American Gallinule (263. Gallimda galeatd) is a marsh bird, 
allied to the Eails, about fourteen inches long, and oliTe-colored above ; 
head, neck and body gray ; biU and eye red ; legs greenish yellow. 
They are not so common here as in the southern Atlantic States. Like 
the following larger Eails, they are often called Marsh-hens. 

The Greater, or King-Eail, (264. Ballus elegans), is common in the 
iresh or brackish marshes of this State, as well as across this continent. 
They are kiUed for market in large numbers, and considered good food, 
although inferior to the smaller species. They measure eighteen or 
nineteen inches in length, and weigh one to one and a half pounds. 

The Clapper-Eail, (265. Ballus crepiiaiis), is a very similar, but 
smaller species, frequenting only the salt marshes. It is fourteen or 
fifteen inches long, and weighs eight or ten ounces. 

The Virginia Eail (266. Ballus Virginianus) is like a miniature of the 
first, and is also found throughout the United States in similar places. 
They measure nine to ten and a half inches, and are very good eating, 
but not anywhere numerous. 

The Carolina Eail, or Sora (267. Porzana Carolina), is smaller than 
the last, and with a black stripe from the crown of the head down the 
throat to the breast (wanting in the female), back brown, gxayish 
beneath. In the Atlantic States it is a favorite game-bird, but has not 
yet become so here, where so many larger birds are common. 

The Yellow Eail (268. Porzana Noveboracensis) still smaller, is also 
found across the continent, but more rarely obtained, and not of much 
interest. 

The Black, or Jamaica Eail (269. Porzana Jamaicen^is) is a curious 
species, little larger than a sparrow, beautifully dotted with white. It 
rarely flies, but creeps through the long marsh-grasses, and is rarely 
obtained except when driven out by high tides or caught by a dog. 

The American Coot (270. Fulica Americana), often called Mud-hen, 
is a slaty-blue, duck -like bird, very numerous throughout the United 
States, but not much eaten, though chiefly a vegetable eater. They 
are, therefore, very tame and unsuspicious, frequenting every pond and 
marsh at times. They weigh about a pound, have shorter necks and 
legs than the Eails, and are remarkable for having broad lobes, like 
Avebs, along the edges of the toes, enabling them to swim as weU as run, 
thus forming a link with the Water Birds. 



474 THE NATCTRAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA. 

watee birds. 
Oedee Natatoees — Swimmees. 

Of these we have nearly ninety species, most of them found only 
on or near the salt waters. They are aU connected together by the fact 
of being web-footed, although this does not form a natural division 
any more than it would among Mammals. 

The Swans are of two species, the first a third larger than the other, 
but are nearly alike in their snowy plumage. A few are tilled every 
winter as far south as San Francisco. They are not considered equal 
to the geese for the table. (271. CijgnnshuccinatGr ; 272. C. Americanus.) 
The latter only is found on the Atlantic side. 

The Snow Geese are also of two species, differing chiefly in size, 
and are both white with black quills. The first and larger kind is 
numerous in the colder months, both along tlie coast and inland, but 
they are not considered so good for the table as the brant. (273. 
Anser Jiyperboreits ; 274 A. albatus.) 

The Black-bellied Goose (275. Anser GambelUi) is a gray species 
with reddish biU and orange feet. It is less aquatic than the rest, feed- 
ing more on grass, and probably the best of all for the table. They 
weigh four to five poimds, and are more common here than near the 
Atlantic. 

The Canada Goose, or Brant (276. Bernicla Canadensis) is a large 
species, often tamed, and well known in captivity by the white patch 
on its cheeks. It is commoner toward the north and eastward, but 
rarely seen on salt water, and is the largest of our species, often 
weighing seven pounds. Some are believed to nest about our moun- 
tain lakes. Hutchins' Brant (277. Bernicla Hutchinsii) is like a minia- 
ture of the last, having even the white patch on each side of the head, 
and is much more common here, while the case is reversed on the 
Atlantic coast. It is of about the same size and weight as the Aiiser 
Gambelii. The Eing-necked Brant (275. Bernicla leucopareia) is a very 
similar species, with a white ring around the base of its neck, and 
probably a visitor here from Asia, being rare. 

The Black Brant (279. Bernicla nigricans) is entirely black, except 
the rump, and a narrow ring round the middle of the neck. It is 
entirely a salt-water species while here, living on gi-asses, etc., in the 
bays, not often killed, and very rare along the Atlantic coast. It is 
much smaller than the last. 

The Tree-Goose, (280. Deiidrocygnafulva), unlike most of the others, 



ZOOLOGY. 475. 

is a southern species, visiting us in summer, and breeding in small 
numbers on tlie interior marslies. They resemble long-legged brown 
ducks, and are of the size of the Mallard. 

The Mallard (281. Anas boschas) is numerous at all seasons, and well 
loiOTvn as the origin of the domestic duck, common on both conti- 
nents. 

The Pintail (282. Dafila acuta) is abundant in winter on the fresh 
waters and bays, and is one of the best species for eating. This also 
i« common around the northern hemisphere. 

The Green-winged Teal (283. Nettion CaroUnensis) is abundant in 
the colder months throughout North America, and though small, is con- 
sidered as good eating as any. It scarcely differs from the European 
species. The Cinnamon Teal (284. Querquedula cyanoptera) is a bear.- 
tiful species, the male mahogany red, with blue wings. It is common 
in this State, and in South America, but only a straggler on the eastern 
slope. 

The ShoTeler (285. Spatula clypeata) is a common winter species 
throughout the northern hemisphere, and some breed within our limits. 
They are about half the weight of the Mallard. The Gadwall (286. 
Gliaulelesmus streperus) is another middle sized duck found throughout 
the Northern hemisphere. Like the last, they are chiefly fresh water 
species and good food. The American Widgeon (287. Ilareca Ameri- 
cana) is of similar size, with a white patch on the head, from which it 
is often called Baldpate. It is chiefly a North American species. The 
European Widgeon (288. Mareca Penelope) is not uncommon here, but 
merely as a straggler. It is similar in size, but has a brownish head. 

The Wood, or Summer Duck (289. Aix sponsa), is a beautiful species, 
common in summer throughout the United States, living chiefly in 
woods and building in hollow trees. The naale's plumage is too varied 
for description here, but it is notable for having a long crest, and is 
often seen stuflied in museums. 

Our other ducks are more fond of salt water bays, although most of 
them are also found inland. They are considered generally inferior for 
the table, unless we except the famous Canvass-back. The three first 
are common to the whole Northern hemisphere, the rest only occasion- 
ally found in the Old World, though others very like some of them 
occur there. The three first and four last are exclusively marine and 
not much eaten. 

The Harlequin Duck (290. Histnonicus torquatus) is so called from 
the bizarre pattern of its beautiful plumage. It visits our northern 
coast in winter, but is rare. The Old Wife, South Southerly or Long- 



476 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENU. 

tail (291. Harelda glacialis) is a duck of middle size, plain plumage, and 
gets its second name from its peculiar cry. It visits us with the last. 
The Big Black Head (292. Ficlix marila), and Little Black Head (293. 
Falix affinis), also called Scaup Ducks and Broad-bills (as is the 
Shoveller), are nearly alike in plumage, and found plentifully in muddy 
creeks in winter. The last is pecidiar to America. The Eingneck (294. 
Fulix collaris) is more of an inland species, and like the last, rather 
fishy. 

The Ked-head and Canvass-back Ducks are so nearly alike in plu- 
mage, that the former is often sold for the latter, but may be distin- 
guished by its light blue bill, lower part of neck more widely banded 
with black, smaller size, etc. There is, however, little difference in 
their flavor after all. The female of the first is entirely brown, of the 
last whitish, waved with black ; head, neck and breast brownish. 
(295. AytJiya Americana; 296. A. valisneriana. The Golden-eye (297. 
Bucepliala Americana) is a handsome species, and pretty good eating. 
The Buffel-head, Butter Duck, or Spirit Duck (298. Bucephala albeola), 
is a common little species, found with the preceding everywhere in 
winter, very handsome, and usually very fat. The Buddy Duck, or 
Dun Bird (299. Erismatura rubidd) is reddish-brown, top of head black, 
cheeks and chin white. The female is blackish-brown, dotted with 
white. It is a winter duck, most common in fresh water, and con- 
sidered fair eatiag. 

The four next species are usually confounded under the names of 
Surf-Ducks, Velvet Ducks, Scoters, and Coots. They never go inland, 
live on fish, and are scarcely eatable. Their plumage is black, with 
white patches on the head or wings, or variously colored bills, which 
distinguish them. The females are mostly sooty brown. (300. Pclion- 
etta perspicillata ; 301. P. Trowhridgii; 302. Melanetta velvetina ; 303. 
Oidemia Americana.) 

The Shell-drakes, Saw-bills, Goosanders, or Mergansers, differ from 
the ducks in having narrow bills with sharp teeth along the edge. 
They live only on fish, and are scarcely ever eaten. They are, however, 
very beautiful in plumage. The first two have green heads, black and 
white backs, and salmon or buff breasts; the females are gray with red 
crested heads. The third species is called Hooded, from exijanded 
black and white feathers on the head; in the female the black is 
replaced by brown. They are partial to swift running streams, and the 
two last are found around the Northern hemisphere. (304. Mcrgus 
Americanus ; 305. 31. serrator; 306. Lopliodytes cucullatus.) 

The remaining water-birds are exclusively fish eaters and scarcely 



ZOOLOGY. 477 

ever eaten, unless wlien young, though the eggs of some are much 
used. They must be disposed of more briefly than the ducks. 

The Pelicans are of two species, the white and gray, the first chiefly 
found on fresh water, the last on salt, and both abound here in the 
colder months, as well as near the Atlantic. They are curious and 
interesting birds, but uneatable. (307. Pelecanus erythrorhyiwlius ; 308. 
P. fuscus). The Frigate Pelican, or Man-of -War-Bird, (309. Tacliypetes 
aquilus) is occasionally found along the southern half of om: coast, as 
well as in all tropical regions. 

Our Cormorants are of three or four species. The first is largest, 
and found throughout the United States on rivers and sea-shores at all 
seasons. The others are confined to the rocky coast and islands of the 
eastern Pacific ocean. They are black, with more or less beautiful 
tints of green and purple, white patches, etc. (310. Graculus dilophus ; 
311. G. penicillatus ; G. violaceus ? 312. G. Bairdii). 

The Short-tailed Albatross (313. Diomedea hracJiyura) is white with 
black quills, the young for some years more or less sooty-black, and is 
one of our largest birds. It is confined to the North Pacific. Length, 
3 feet ; extent, 98 inches. 

The Gigantic Fulmar (314. Ossifraga gigantea) is about the same 
size, brownish and white, and wanders far at sea over the Pacific 
Ocean, feeding on dead whale meat, or other similar food, and rarely 
approaching the land. 

Two smaller Fulmars are found near the coast, and live by attack- 
ing gulls in the air, obliging them to disgorge, and catching the half 
digested food as it falls. They are the vultures of the sea. (315. 
Fidmarus pacificus, and 316. F. tenmrostris). Their plumage is so 
much like that of the gulls that they easily approach them unnoticed, 
but their bills are hooked. The Shearwaters are very similai', but 
obtain their food by skimming off small fish, floating oil, etc., from 
the waves, and keep off several miles from the coast. They are plain 
gray, brown, or black and white birds, and should be called puffins, 
though this name is usually applied to the sea-parrots. (317. Priofi- 
nus cinereus ; 318. Puffinus creatopus; 319. P. fidiginosus). 

The Petrels, or "Mother Carey's chickens," are occasionally seen 
along the southern half of our coast, and the first named also north- 
ward. This is a gray species; the second black; the third black mth 
a white rump, and the only one found in both oceans. They feed like 
the last, and follow ships to pick up what is thrown over, as do the 
Albatross and Puffins at times. (320. Oceanodromafurcata; 321. Cymo- 
cliorea homochroa; 322. Oceanites oceanica.) 



478 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CjULEFOEITLA. 

The Gulls are numerous here, both on fresh and salt waters, and 
several of them are very similar in plumage, usually of some shade of 
blue above, the rest white, but, when young, mottled with brown. 
Each, however, has peculiarities in habits, size, etc., and only the sec- 
ond spends the summer on our coast, though another breeds on the 
islands of Mono Lake. They eat everything of an animal nature tliey 
can swallow, and follow ships. The first is entirely white, and is a rare 
visitor from the Arctic regions. (323. Lams Sutchinsii ; 324. L. occi- 
dentalis; 325. L. glaucescens; 326. L. Smitlisonimius ; 327. L. Delawar- 
ensis; 328. L. Calif ornicus; 329. L. h'ocliyrhjnchus.) 

Heerman's Gull (330. Blasipus Heermani) is a small species, dark 
blue, with white head and red bill, which is often seen accompanying 
the Gray Pelicans, and catching the smaa fisli they drop from their 
pouches after a successful dive. Kotzebue's Gull (331. Bissa Kofzebuei) 
is a pretty little species, similar to the group first named. The Hooded 
Gull (332. ChroicocepJialus PhiladelpMa) is common throughout the 
United States in summer ; of rather small size, gregarious, and a good 
fisher. 

The Terns, or Sea-Swallows, are much like Gulls, with slender, 
sharp bills, usually red or black ; bluish above, white feeneath. They 
are better divers, and live only on fish. Some are tinged on the breast 
with rose or salmon color. (333. Thalasseus regius; 334. T. elegans; 
335. Sterna, Forsteri ; 336. ^S". Pikei.) The fii'st and third are Eastern 
also. 

The little Black Tern (837. Hydrochelidonfasipes) is not always black, 
but in winter the body and wings are lead-gray, while the young are 
white, brownish or black above. They frequent chiefly clear inland 
M'aters, and have much the appearance of large swallows, feeding on 
fish, and at times on insects also, as do some of the larger species, when 
away from the coast. 

Three species of this family, of peculiar forms and habits, are said 
to visit this coast, but have not been recently seen. The first is Arctic, 
the other two tropical. (Buphagus skua; Creagriis furcatus ; Haliplana 
fuliginosa.) The first, called Yager and Skua, is a sort of marine 
Eagle ; the second is little known, but has a long forked tail ; the 
third is called Sooty Tern, or Noddy, and is found in both troi^ical 
oceans. 

Our Loons are of three species, the two first found iu all the north- 
ern hemisphere ; the third peculiar to Northern America. They are 
large and beautifully colored birds, when mature, but usually seen in a 
plain brownish young plumage. Their most common names are Great 



ZOOLOGY. 479 

Nortliern, Black-tliroated, and Red-throated Divers, and tliey frequent 
both fresh and salt waters. (338. Colymlus toi-quatus; 339. C. septentrion- 
alis; 340. G. Facificus.) 

The Grebes or Dobchicks resemble Loons, but have the toes lobed 
instead of webbed. All the species yet found in this State are peculiar 
to the west coast of America, and, while with us, are grayish black above, 
and white beneath — though probably obtainLig finer colored feathers 
in their northern breeding places. They vary from the size of a duck 
.to that of a dove, have long slender necks and bills, and dive so quickly 
as often to escape being shot. (341. Mchmopliorus occidentalis; 342. 
^. Clarkii; 343. Podkeps Cooperi; 344. P. Calif ornicus.) 

The Thick-billed Dobchick, or Dipper, (345. Podilymhus podiceps), 
is common, chiefly on the fresh waters of all North America, and 
remains with us in summer, building a nest floating on the water, and 
attached to neighboring plants. It has many curious characteristics. 

The Tufted Auk, or Sea Parrot (346. Mormon cirrhatd) is often called 
Puffin, (see No. 318). It is an extraordinary bird, of the size of the 
common green parrot, and much the same form — its bill flattened later- 
ally like a knife, but in profile not unlike the parrot's, being suited for 
crushing crabs and shells for which it dives. Its color is black and 
white, with a long yellowish tuft of hair-like feathers, on each side of 
the head. It is common on the Farallone islands and others in the 
North Pacific, where it lays one egg each year in a burrow scratched 
among the rocks. Nearly all the following species also hatch but one 
young one annually. 

Two smaller black and white Auks, with smaller, more pointed bills, 
and similar tufts on the head, are found along the sea-coast, chiefly in 
winter. (347. Cerorhina inonocerata; 348. C. Sucldeyi). They have a 
curious knob on the bill, above the nostrils. Like all our auks, they 
fly well, but excel most in swimming and diving. A still smaller kind 
of the North Pacific only, is remarkable for singing rather musically, 
when at night they visit their burrows on lonely islands during early 
summer. (349. PtycJiorampJms Aleuticus). 

The Pacific Sea Pigeon (350. Uria Columba) is as large as the land- 
pigeon, black with white on the wings, and red feet. It lays and sits 
on three eggs at a time. 

The Californian Murre (351. Catarractes Califomicus) is as large as 
a small duck, head and back brown, beneath white, bill sharp-pointed. 
They swarm about the Farallones and more northern islands, occasion- 
ally visiting open bays to fish. Their eggs form quite an article of 
trafiic in June, when they are brought in boat-loads to San Francisco, 



4S0 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEXLA. 

and sold at a lower price than liens' eggs for cooking, thougli when 
hard-boiled they are pretty good to eat. They are usually of the size 
of a goose egg, but vary down to less than a quarter of that size, and 
unlike nearly all other birds' eggs, there are scarcely two alike in color, 
being variously streaked and spotted with black, brown, green, blue, 
or olive, on a ground of white, blue, green, brownish or neutral tints. 
Each bird lays and sits on but one egg at a time, but they repeat the 
attempt to raise young several times after being robbed. 

Two other little Auks complete our list of birds of this coast. The 
first is of the size of a pigeon, and visits us from the north in winter. 
The other is a third smaller, and found as yet only on our southern 
gi-oup of islands and at Cape St. Lucas, being the most southern of 
the Auk tribe north of the Equator. Both are peculiar to the North 
Pacific, and both colored black and white, though difi'erently. They 
live in the open sea, and dive for small fish. (352. Brachyramphus 
marmoratiis ; 353. B. hypoleucus). 



EEPTILES. 

Of these animals (which we may consider as including the Batra- 
chian, or scaleless, as well as the true reptiles, ) there are eighty-five 
species in California. Though generally considered uninteresting, and 
repulsive to the majority of people, some are useful as food, and nearly' 
aU serviceable on account of the insects, mice and other vermin they 
destroy, while none but the Rattlesnakes in this State are actually 
venomous. None are identical with Eastern kinds. 

OeDEE TeSTTTDINATA — TOETOISES. 

Of these we have few species, compared with States east of the 
Mississippi, on account of the much drier character of our climate, 
not furnishing such extensive and permanent bodies of water as most 
of them require. 

Agassiz's Tortoise (1. Xerobates Agassizii) is found only in the south- 
east quarter of California, which is both the driest and warmest. They 
grow a foot in length, and live wholly on vegetable food, closely 
resembling the Tortoise called Gopher, (i. e. burrower), in the Gulf 
States. They are like that and most other species, eatable, but not 
veiy well flavored. 

The Western Terrapin (2. Actmemys marmorata) is abimdant in all 
the fresh waters except perhaps, the Colorado river. It is black, usually 



ZOOLOGY. 481 

mottled densely mtli yellow dots regularly arranged. They are almost 
constantly for sale in the markets of San Francisco, and make pretty 
good soups, though much inferior to the Sea-turtles. They grow eight 
or nine inches in length. 

Another Turtle (3. Platytliyra Jlavescens) is found in the lower Colo- 
rado, but little is known concerning it, except that it is found also east- 
ward to the Gulf of Mexico. Agassiz's great work gives full descriptions 
and figures of the last two. (Contributions to the Nat. Hist, of the 
tTnited States, vols. I and H.) 

Great numbers of Sea-turtles are brought here from Mexico, but 
are never captured within our limits. 

OeDEB SaTJEIA — LlZAEDS. 

In this group of animals, for which our warm dry climate is par- 
ticularly adapted, California excels all the other States put together. 
Many of them are remarkable for curious forms and beautiful colors; 
but they are generally avoided, or destroyed by inconsiderate people, 
from prejudice or ignorance of their harmless and useful nature.-'" 
Nearly all live entirely on insects, but one or more of the largest found 
ill the southeastern quarter eat vegetable food. Many of them are eaten 
by the Indians, and if we could overcome old prejudices, might be 
found as good as the Iguanas of the tropics, which are considered by 
people of all colors excellent food. None of our species are poisonous 
or venomous, as far as is known, though some have that reputation 
merely on accoiint of their ugly appearance. (By the help of the scien- 
tific names, figures and descriptions of most of them may be found in 
the Pacific E. E. Eeports, U. S. and Mex. Boundary Eeports, etc.) 

We have no Alligators on this coast. 

Various species, called "Fence Lizard," are common throughout 
most of the State. All of the genus have, in the male, a brilliant blue 
patch on each side, somewhat beneath, and grow from six to ten inches 
long. (1. Sceloporvs occklentalis ; 2. S. graciosus, southward and east- 
ward ; 3. 8. biseriatus, southward and eastward ; 4. S. magister, Colo- 
rado valley — ^the largest ; 5. S. Glarhii, Colorado valley ; 6. S. longipes,. 
east of the Sierra Nevada.) 

The "Fat Toad Lizard," (7. EupJiryne ohesa), is a large heavy black- 
ish species, nearly a foot long, found near the Mexican boundary, 
and probably vegetivorous. A more slender species, (8. Crotaphytus 
fasciatus), banded black and grayish, over a foot long, is found chiefly 
east of the Sierra Nevada. 

* Ihey are sciaetunes. called " Seorpions," bat are qjUite distinct from thase insects* 

31 



482 THE NATTIR.VL WEALTH OP CALIFOENIA. 

The next is a pretty little species discoyered by Capt. Stansbury in 
his Salt Lake Exploration, 1852, but common everywhere in the south- 
ern part of this State ; (9. Uta Stansburiana.) All the following spe- 
cies are more or less similar and not over four or five inches long : 
10. U. ornata, found with the preceding ; 11. U. graciosa, chiefly south- 
eastward ; 12. U. symmetrica, chiefly southeastward ; 13. U. ScJioUii, 
along the Mexican line. 

The " Thirsty Lizard, " (14. Dqysosaurus dorsalis), is a rather heavy 
built lizard, a foot long, and vegetivoroiis, found in the Colorado valley. 
It is mostly pale gray, and has the back ridged, like the Iguana. Next 
is a middle sized, very slender and swift lizard, found in the sandy 
plains of the southeastern quarters, (15. CaUisaums ventralis), the name 
of which means "beautiful lizard." 

The "Horned Toad," (16. Tcq^aya coronaia), common west of the 
Sierra Nevada, is named from the broad, flat shape of its body, with 
short tail, but is far removed from the toads in everything else. The 
name " Tapaya" is Mexican. Its "horns," or spines about the head, 
though by many considered poisonous, are harmless. The "Horned 
Toad" of the northeast parts of California, and thence eastward to 
Nebraska, (17. Tapaija Douglasii,) is much smaller, being about four 
inches long — the preceding, six. 

A " Horned Toad" of more slender form is found in the southeastenx 
regions, and growing seven or eight inches long ; (18. Phrynosoma 
regale) — literal meaning of the name, "royal toad-body" (lizard). A 
" Horned Toad, " also found in the southeastern regions; (19. Dolio- 
saurus platyrliinus) — ^literal meaning of the name, the "broad-nosed 
barrel lizard." Another "Horned Toad," is -nithout any ear-openings, 
but not deaf, as, like all the species, it is quite vigilant, active, and 
not easily caught in warm weather ; (20. Anota McCallii). The name 
means earless, and General McCall first collected it. 

A small lizard of the desert is named from Fort Yuma, and from 
its spotted color ; (21. TJma notata). A large striped lizard, chiefly 
found east of the Sierras, is a foot long, and named Tiger Armor- 
bearer, from its color and armor-like scales ; (22. Cnemidophorus tigris). 
A small, but peculiar species, is found as yet only near Fort Tejon, 
and named after J. Xantus de Vesey, its vigilant discoverer; (2.3. Xan- 
■ tusia vigilis). 

A blackish lizard, a foot or more long, with strong, heavy limbs, 

. and large blunt head, its skin knobby instead of scaly, is found along 

the Mexican boundary. It is the kind reputed poisonous, but is prob- 

. ably not. The name moans the " hon'id knobby-sldnned " lizard ; (24. 



ZOOLOGY. 483 

Heloderma liorridmn). The Many-ribbed Lizard (25. GerrJionoius mid- 
ticarinatus) is a foot long, but rather slender, though slow, found every- 
where west of the Sierras, chiefly in forests. It is beautifully colored, 
and perfectly harmless. 26. G. Webhii; and 27. G. olivaceus, are small 
kinds found near the Mexican Boundary. There is a smooth, very long 
and swift lizard, found chiefly in the northern part of California and 
Oregon. It is grayish-brown, somewhat spotted, and named in part 
from its long tail being like that of the lizard called Skink. The generic 
name may be of Mexican origin. (27. Elgaria scincicauda ; 28. E. for- 
mosa, is a similar species.) The Variegated Lizard (29. Stenodactylus 
variegatus) is a small species found near the Mexican Boundary. An- 
other rather small kind is found in the northern half of California, 
also northward and eastward, of which the name means Crowded- 
toothed, (Lizard), of Skilton. (30. Plestlodon Skiltonianum.) 

Glass-Snake (31. Ophisaurus ventralis?) A species is said to be found 
east of the Sierra, but is probably undescribed. These animals have 
the form of a snake, but the anatomy of a lizard, though without feet. 
"When struck, the tail generally breaks off short unlike that of the 
snakes, and is said ,to grow out again, though imperfectly. They are 
quite harmless, and a foot or two long. The generic name means 
Snake-Lizard. 

Okdjse Ophidia — Sebpents. 

These animals, so horrifying to most persons, are really useful, as 
they destroy great numbers of ground-squirrels, gophers, mice and 
insects. Only the Kattlesnakes are venomous, and are easily distin- 
guished by their rattle. Some persons eat even these with great relish, 
but we not know that any of the harmless kinds are eaten. 

Venomous Serpents. 

The "Fierce Eattlesnake," (1. Crotalus airox), is the kind common 
in the Colorado valley, growing three feet long, and with black rings 
on the tail. The "Horned Eattlesnake" (2. C cerastes) is a curious 
species a foot long, with pointed knobs over the eyes, and found only 
in the southern counties. The "Tiger Eattlesnake" (3. C. tigris) is 
found in the Colorado desert regions, of large size. 

The "Oregon Eattlesnake," (4. C. Lucifer), lives chiefly in the 
northern part of California, eastern Oregon, and British Columbia ; 
is olive and white, and grows two or three feet long. The "Southern 
Eattlesnake " (5. G. HalloivelU) is the common species in the southern 
counties west of the Sierra, and grows four feet long. 



48i THE N-VTUE.VL 'WEALTH OF C.\I-IFOEKLV. 

Harmless Serpents. 

A pretty species, (6. CMonactis occipitalis), "banded black and wLite, 
two feet long, found in tlie Colorado valley and southward tas no 
common name. The "Banded Milk-snake" (7. Lamp)ropeltis Boylii) 
is similar in colors, but the bands more equal. It is found everywhere 
west of the Sien-a Nevada, and grows three or four feet long. The 
"Beautiful King-snake" (8. DiadopJiis pvMieUus) is about eight inches 
long, bluish-black above, rich orange-red beneath, with a ring of the 
same around its neck, and found chiefly in the Coast Eange. Two, (9. D. 
amahilis; 10. D. pallidas?), are similar species, but differ in colors 
and localities. Another little species of similar size, but olivaceous 
color, found in the Coast Eange, is named fix)m Leconte, the discov- 
erer, (10. Contia mitis.) 

The " Goi^peiy "Whip-snake " (11. Drymdbius testaceus) is a very slen- 
der species, four feet long or more, coppery-red, varied with black and 
white, found iu the southern counties, and thence eastward to Texas. 
The "Few-striped "Whip-snake" (12. D. lateralis) is blackish, with a 
few pale stripes on the sides, three feet long, attd found in the Coast 
Range chiefly. The "Many-striped "WTiip-snake " (13. D. tceniatits) is 
pale, with several narrow stripes, of the same size, and fmmd chiefly 
east of the Sierra Nevada. A middle-sized snake of plain color is found 
along the Colorado, and named from a Mexican State, and Col. Graham, 
the discoverer, (14. Salvadora Grahamii). 

The " Green Eacer " (15. Ba.icanion vefustus) is an olive-green snake, 
yellow beneath, three feet long, and found everywhere west of the 
Sierra ; climbs trees like the Eastern blacksnakes, to which it is nearest 
related — harmless, but kills many mice and some small birds. 

The ""Wandering Garter-snake" (16. Eufainia vagrans) is a pale 
gray dusky-striped species, found nearly everywhere west of the Rocky 
Mountains, but rare near the coast. The following eight species are 
also called garter-snakes, and are all about two feet in length, but 
vary in colors and arrangement of stripes, as well as other characters. 
The Nos. 20, 21, and 22, are among our prettiest species of snakes. 
The first five are northern, the others chiefly of the southern half of 
the State, west of the Sierras. (17. U. atrata; 18. E. leptocephala ; 
19. E. infcrnalls; 20. E. Pickeringii; 21. E. concinna; 22. E. elegans; 
23. E. Hammondii; 24. E. CoiwJiii). 

The Southern Bull-snake (25. PifyopMs hcllond) is a thick, heavy 
species, four feet long, found in the Colorado valley, and though large, 
and colored in diamond-pattern, like the rattlesnakes, is quite harm- 



ZOOLOGY. 485 

less, and, like the very similar species following, lives cMefly on mice, 
gophers, and other burrowing animals, pursuing them under ground. 
(26. P. catenifer; 27. P. anncdens; 28. P. vertebralis). These are 
found west of the Sierra, and are probably varieties of one species. 
They are also called Pine Snakes (the generic name). 

A curious species is found only near the Colorado Desert, of which 
the name means Scale-nosed (snake) of Leconte, (28. Ehinocheilus 
Lecontii). One, (29. Bena humilis), of which the name may mean Humble 
Sheep-snake, is also a plain colored, but peculiar small snake, living 
chiefly under ground, and found with the preceding. 

The ' ' Wood Snake " (30. Charina BottcE) is a short, thick, smooth 
species, with small head and eyes, brown above, yellowish below, found 
in woods under decayed logs, bark, etc., and comes nearer in structure 
to the celebrated Boa Constrictor than any other United States snake, 
but is quite harmless, living on insects, and apparently hunts for 
them mostly at night. It grows only about two feet in length, and is 
found chiefly in the Coast Eange, from Puget Sound to Mexico, whence 
the generic name probably comes. 

Oeder Batbachia — Feogs, Etc. 

The Batrachia, or soft-skinned reptiles, include frogs, toads, and 
salamanders, or newts. Many species of frogs are eaten, when large 
enough for their hind legs to furnish a choice morsel for epicures, 
and all are regarded as harmless creatures, with the good reputation 
of keeping springs clear and pure, probably because they are sensible 
enough to inhabit such water. The following species have been 
described from California, chiefly the northern parts, as they do not 
inhabit the muddy Colorado, and are scarce where the water dries up 
in summer. (1. Ban-a longipes; 2. B. Boi/lii; 3. B. Draytonii; 4. B. 
Lecontii). 

One species of Wood-frog {5. Hyla regilla) is common everywhere 
west of the Sierra Nevada, and in the drier counties they even enter 
houses in summer, attracted by the slight exlialatiou of moisture from 
water tanks, etc. They are only about an inch long in the body, and 
have the power of slowly changing color to suit that oi surrounding 
objects, thus concealing themselves. They vary from grass-gi-een to 
olive, or marked with brown of various patterns. 

The Toads are more terrestial than Frogs, and more or less covered 
with wart-like knobs. They feed chiefly at night, pursuing insects on 
the ground, and are thus very useful in the garden. The first-named, 



486 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF C^ULIFOP.NU. 

No. G, grows four inclies long, is nearly smootli, and has somewliat the 
habits of a frog in the Colorado valley — where this and the next are 
found — the other two near the coast, and grow two or three inches 
long. (6. Bvfo alvarius; 7. £. WoodJiousii; 8. B. halophila; 9. B. 
Columbiensis.) A kind of toad, with peculiar feet, is found in the 
northern part of the State, and the same, or a similar one, is also 
found at San Diego. The generic name means Spade-foot. (10. Scaj^Ji- 
iopus Hammoiidii.) 

The Salamanders are Lizard-sLaped animals, generally with smooth 
sliining skin, usually brightly colored, and nocturnal in habits, con- 
cealing themselves by day in damp places, under stones, etc. They are 
harmless insect-eaters, though superstition has invented many wonder- 
ful stories of their venomous and even supernatural qualities. Some 
kinds, called Newts, inhabit water, and all go into the water in spring, 
requiring much moisture at all seasons. Most of these are found only 
in the northern half of this State, or on high mountains southward, 
taking the place of the Lizards, which require heat and dryness. They 
are slow crawlers on land, but many swim rapidly, and are sometimes 
caught on fish-hooks. (11. Amhystoma Californiense ; 12. A. jpunciu- 
latuvi; 13. A. macrodacUjlum ; 14. A. tenehrosuin ; 15. A. inavortium; 16. 
A. ingens; 17. A. vehiculum.) These are all confined to northern Cali- 
fornia and Oregon. 

A slender species, (17. Batraclioseps attenuatus), two to three inches 
long, of which the name means " Slender Frog-Lizard, " is found every- 
where west of the Sierra Nevada; color black, bluish below. 

A pale yellow-red species, five inches long, common in the Coast 
Bange, and distinguishable from the rest by its smooth skin, has a 
name meaning the "Mournful Unknown," (19. Aneides lugubris.) 

The "Warty Salamander (20. Diemyctelus tarosd) is one of the few 
species with dry, rough skin, dark reddish-brown above, orange 
beneath, and is more able to withstand dryness than the others, being 
often found in the mountains travelling by day. 

The "Fish-Lizard, Four-legged Fish, or Mud Pup," (21. Siredon 

.'') is one of the curious links between reptiles and fish, having 

giUs on the outside of the neck, and inhabiting water only. A species 
is said to be found in the mountain lakes of the northern Sierra 
Nevada, but has not been yet named. A black kind, eight inches 
long, with membranous, fin-like expansions, is found in the Columbia 



487 



FISHES. 



With this class California is probably better supplied than any other 
equally populous portion of the ciTilized world, as regards either abund- 
ance, excellence, or variety. Not only are our own markets fully stocked 
at all seasons, but great quantities are salted or dried for use in the 
mines, and for exportation to China — the latter business being chiefly 
carried on by Chinese. That king of fishes, the Salmon, is plentifid 
in spring in many of our rivers, and Trout of large size and excellent 
quality abound in our mountain lakes. The marine fishes furnish hun- 
dreds of species, most of which have no English name, or are given the 
name of some Eastern or European fish, often quite different. On this 
account, and because little is yet known concerning the habits and range 
of our fishes, a very brief enumeration only can be given here. Nearly 
all those found on this coast were new to naturalists in 1850, and since 
1859, the date of the Pacific Kailroad General Report on fishes, no 
less than fifty species have been discovered here, while many, doubtless, 
yet remain undescribed. The whole number already determined is one 
hundred and ninety-four. 

BONY PISHES. 
Pbecbd^ — Pebch FamhiT. 

The Giant Perch (1. Stereolopis gigas) was first described by Dr. "W. 
O. Ayres, of San Francisco, in 1859. It resembles the little fresh- 
water perch in form, but grows to the enormous length of seven feet, 
weighing three hundred and sixty potmds, the proportions of one caught 
in San Francisco Bay, and described by Dr. Ayres. They are not un- 
common along the southern part of the coast, but not much caught, as 
they usually carry off the fisherman's hooks, and when taken are coarse 
food. They are also called "Jew Fish." 

Two species, called "Basse," are caught, south of Monterey, and 
are pretty good eating. They grow about two feet long, are olive above, 
spotted or clouded black. (2. Paralahrax nebuli/er; 3. Atractoperca clai- 
hrafa. ) A fresh water Perch (3. Arclioplites interruptus) is common in 
the interior rivers, and about equal to the Perch of other countries in 
size and flavor. The viviparous and other fish are also called "Perch." 

IiATiiiOrp.s;. 
A species called "Whitefish," (4. CaulolaMlus anomalus), but qiiite 
distinct from any fish called so elsewhere, grows three feet long, and 
inhabits the southern waters of this State, but is not so good eating as 
the lake Whitefish, (Coregonus.) 



•4o» THE NATDEAl -WEALTH OF CAIIFOENIA. 

ScLENIDa; — KlNGFISH FaMUjIT. 

The Gmnter, (5. Rhinoscion saturnus), is a, species about a foot or 
two inlengtli, cauglit on the southern part of our coast, and good eating. 

The "Corvina," "Cognard,"or "Little Basse," (6. Leiostorims Imea- 
tus), grows a foot long, and is caught in San Francisco Bay, but more 
common southward, and is a good fish. 

The Californian King-fish (7. Umbrina midalata) is a southern coast 
species, little known, but believed to grow over two feet long, and is 
good eating. 

The "Big Basse," (8. Airactoscix)n nohile), is a fish caught abund- 
antly at San Francisco, and southward, growing five feet long and weigh- 
ing seventy pounds. It is one of the best sea-fish sold in our markets. 
Another small species, (9. Seriplms jiolitus), growing eight inches long, 
is caught in San Francisco Bay, but is rare and little known, with no 
common name. It may be called the California Weak-fish. 

CBUETODONIDiE — MoON-FlSH FaMILT. 

Two fish which have no common names are found on our southern 
coast, the second extending to San Francisco but rarely. The first 
grows six inches, the second a foot long. Many of the tropical fish of 
this family are brilliantly colored. (10. Parepliippus zonatus; 11. Girella 
nigricans.) 

PoMACENTKrO^. 

The Californian "Gold-fish" (12. Glyj^hidodon nihicundus) grows 
nearly a foot long, and resembles the common Gold-fish kept in vases, 
both in form and color, though different in anatomical character — that 
fish belonging to the Carp family. It is found about our southern 
islands. * 

The Californian Chromis (13. CJiromis punvtipinnis), is a blackish 
perch-like fish, with spotted fins and tail, found about the islands and 
southern coast, where they are caught for food, but are not so good as 
the true Perch. 

EMBIOTOCOIDiE — VrVXPAKOUS PeECH. 

This family, peculiar to the North Pacific, and so interesting on 
account of their mode of reproduction, unlike that of nearly all other 
scaly fishes, has numerous representatives on this coast, varying from 
the size of a gold-fish to a foot long, and a weight of about a pound. 
None of them are considered very good, though all are eaten, and 
command an extra price from the Chinese, who dry them in large 
quantities for export to China. They have been described by several 



ZOOLOGY. 489 

naturalists under different names, but the following are those noAv 
considered correct. The first species only is an inhabitant of the 
interior rivers, the remainder being caught along the whole coast, and 
from their usual resorts on the open sea beaches, are often called 
' ' Surf Fish. " (14. Hysterocarjyus Traskii; 15. Embiotoca Jacksoni ; 16. 
E. argyrosoma; 17. Tceniotoca lateralis; 18. Hypsuriis Caryl; 19. Dam- 
alicJifhys vacca; 20. Fhanerodon furcatus ; 21. Gymatogaster aggregatus; 
22. Ehachocheihcs toxotes; 23. AmpMstichus argenteus; 24. Holconoius 
rJiodoterus; 25. K pulcMlus; 26. Hyperprosopon argenteum; 27. K 
arcuatum; 28. H. pundatum; 29. Si/pocritichthys analis; 30. Brachy- 
istius frenatus ; 31. Jbeoiia minima). 

LABKIDiE — TATJTOQ FaTVTTTjT. 

The "Eedfish" (32. Troclwcopus pulcher) is a thick, heavy fish, 
often -weighing six or eight pounds, and over two feet long, black, the 
larger ones with a red band around the middle third of body. They 
are caught plentifully about the southern islands, and dried for trans- 
portation inland, but being a coarse fish, are not much used fresh, 
though sometimes brought to San Trancisco market by vessels. 

The "Kelpfish" (33. Oxyjulis modestus) is a fish a foot long, with 
very large scales, and of various colors, caught from Santa Cruz south, 
but not considered very good eating. 

QrfRTP TT ?F. 1JTT) M ^DOIiPHIN FAIHIiT. >> 

The "Harvest-fish," or "Pompino," (34. Foronotus shnillimus) is a 
rare species, brought to market in San Francisco and highly prized 
for the table. It grows about eight inches long, and is very similar 
to the Atlantic species. 

SooMBKiD^— Mackerel FamhiT. 

The California Mackerel (35. Scomber diego) is very similar to the 
Atlantic species, bnt rather smaller. They are caught in great num- 
bers some years, in September, at Monterey Bay, and southward. 
When fresh they are very good fish, but inferior in quality when salted. 

The California "Bonito" (36. Felamys Imeolata) called by the Span- 
ish "Caballero," and sometimes "Horse-mackerel," is a beautiful and 
excellent fish, growing three feet long, and caught along the southern 
part of our coast. 

The Calif ornian "Albicore" (37. Orcynus padficus) is also a mag- 
nificent fish, and one of the best caught on the southern coast, when 
eaten fresh. It grows nearly three feet long, and weighs twenty-one 
pounds. 



490 THE NATURAL WE.U^TH OF CUl^IFOEXLV.. 

The California "Horse-mackerel" (38. Halatractus dorsalis) is a 
rare autumnal A'isitor as far north as San Francisco, and is not much 
esteemed for the table. It grows nearly four feet long, and weighs 
twenty pounds. 

Two allied fish, gi-owing a foot, or a foot and a half long, but too 
rare to be of much value, are found at San Francisco and San Diego, 
where they are sometimes called "Spanish Mackerel." Their sides 
each have a ridge of large sharp scales. (39. Trachurus symmetricus ; 
40. Farairadus hoops). 

The "Serra," or Saw-fish of the natives (41. Alepidosaurus serra), 
is a remarkable snake-like fish, flattened laterally, and found very 
rarely at Monterey, washed ashore. It grows four feet long, and seven 
inches in circumference. 

SconBEBESociDa: — Gab-fish Famxlt. 
A species of Gar-fish, or "Bill-fish," (42. Belone exilis), is common 
along the southern part of our coast, and grows a foot or two long, but 
is of little value, though well flavored. 

SPHTRJ3KID2E — BajRBACOUTA FaMHiT. 

The California Baiyacouta (43. Sphyrcena argentea) is caught abun- 
dantly from San Francisco south, in summer and autumn, and is one of 
our best fishes, either for the table or for sjDort in catching them, being 
taken like the Bonito, Albicore, Horse Mackerel, etc., by trolling with 
a fast-sailing boat. They gxow four feet long, and are of slender form. 

ATHEKINID2E — SzLVEBSIDE FaIULT. 

Three species called here "Smelt," and thus confounded with the 
true Smelts (Osmerus), mentioned hereafter, are more or less common. 
The first grows a foot and half long; the others less, being about eight 
and six inches. All are justly esteemed as food, but inferior to the true 
Smelts. (44. CMrostoma Calif orniensis ; 45. C. ctffinis; 46. C. tenuis.) 

EsOCCETIDa; — FliYING-FISH FaJITLT. 

The California Flying-fish (47. Exoccetus Californicus) is a species 
growing fifteen inches long, and often caught along the southern part 
of our coast, where it flies on board of small vessels, but is not very 
good eating. 

CHEroiE— Chirtjs Fashlt. 

Four species called here "Sea Trout," are commonly caught near 
San Francisco and northward, growing about a foot and a half long, 
and are beautifully spotted with black in various patterns on a light 



ZOOLOGY. 491 

ground. They are not very superior for tlie table. (48. Cliirus con- 
stellatus; 49. C.pictus; 50. C. guttatus; 51. AcantJiolebius nehulosits.) 

A fish called "Cod" in San Francisco, though quite different from 
the true cods, both in form and flavor, is common along the whole 
coast, and grows four feet long, being green or yellowish, spotted and 
clouded black. (52. Oplopoma pantherind) — Panther Fish. 

A fish which maybe called "False Pollack," as it resembles that 
fish as much as No. 52 does the Cod, is occasionally caught near San 
Francisco, growing about eighteen inches long, and of plain. olive tints. 
(53. Anoplqpoma merlangus.) 

GrASTEEosTHiDiB— Stickleback Pamelt. 
Several species are abundant in the brackish and fresh waters of 
this State, but interesting only for their curious habits of nest-build- 
ing, etc., which make them favorites in the aquarium. (54. Gasterosteus 
serratus ; 55. G. plebeius; 56. G. microcepJialus; 57. G. Williamsonii.) 

ScOEPiENrDa: — SCOEPION-PISH FaIMTTiY. 

The Californian Scorpsena (58. 8. guttata) is not tmcommon from 
Monterey south, and grows a foot long. It is, like others of the family, 
rather forbidding in aspect, but pretty good eating, and confounded 
with the following by the name of Eock Cod. 

The Californian "Eock Cod," "Groupers," or "Snappers," are 
of several species, one or more of them cauglit at every portion of our 
coast, and are favorite fish for the table, having large bones chiefly, and 
a resemblance to the Cod in taste, from which they were probably 
named, as they look very unlike those fish, and resemble the preceding. 
The various species are distinguishable by colors, being black, rose- 
red, blood-red, olive, or variously spotted in constant patterns. (59. 
Sebastes nigroclndus ; 60. S. iiebidosus; 61. Sauriculaius ; 62. S. ruber; 
63. 8. ocellatus ; 64. 8. elongatus ; 65. 8. 23aucispmis ; 66. 8. ovalis ; 67. 
8. flavidus ; 68. 8. melanops ; 69. 8. rosaceus.) Some of them weigh as 
much as twenty-five pounds. 

Allied to these is a rare fish caught near San Francisco, and only 
about six inches in length, as far as is known, (70. TricJiodon Uneaius.) 
Another, equally rare, but believed to be common farther north, is 
somewhat similar, but probably belongs to the next family, (71. Blep- 
sias trildbus ?) 

CoTHD^aS — ScTTLPrtf PAMHiT. 

Numerous species are common both in salt and fresh waters on this 
coast, those of the former usually called Sculpins, or Bullheads, the 
others sometimes. "Miller's Thunxbs." The fixst two mentioned are 



492 THE NATUEAL ■WEALTH OF CALIFOr.XIA. 

cauglit cliiefly in fresli ■waters, the third goes up the rivers to spa^wn, 
and the rest are confined to salt ■waters. Though most of them are 
eaten, thej are not considered very good. (72. Cottopsis gulosus; 73. 
C. parvus ; 74. Leptocottus arinatus; 75. Oligocottus maculosus; 76. 0. 
analls; 77. 0. globiceps; 78. Leiocottus hirundo; 79. Scorpcenicldhys 
marmoratus ; 80. AspicoUus bison ; 81. Hemilepidotus spinosus ; 82. H. 
Gibbsii ; 83. M. notospilotus ; 84. Calycilepidotus lateralis). They are not 
over a foot long, and are grotesque fish both in form and coloring. 

BLENNTDiE — BlESITX FaMILT, 

The "Wolf -eel" (85. Anarrichthys ocellaius) is a remarkable fish, 
often four to ^ve feet long, in shape like a thick eel, with enormous 
mouth and strong teeth, its body covered ■with round spots. They are 
caught near San Francisco and Monterey, are very voracious and fierce, 
and not bad as food. They are allied to the Atlantic "Wolf-fish. 

The remaining fishes of this family are generally of small size, and 
though curious in form and color, of little or no value as food. The 
first in the list belo'w is sometimes sold in the market by the name of 
eel, though only a foot long, and, like the last, much more flattened on 
the sides than the true eels. ^ Several others have similar forms, and, 
if common enough, -would doubtle'ss be also called "eels." All except 
the last three — ^wMcIi have only been found south-ward — are caught 
between San Erancisco and Monterey. (86. XipMdion mucosum ; 87. 
Lumpenus anguillaris ; 88. ApodichtJiys fiavidus ; 89. . Cehidicldhys cris- 
tagalli ; 90. C. violaceiis ; 91. Ctunnellus ornatus ; 92. Blennius geniilis ; 
93. Neoclinus BlancJiardi; 94. Fierognathus satiricus; 95. Heterostickus 
rostratas ; 96. Gibhonsia elegans). 

BATEACHID2E — TOAD-FlSH FaMTLT. 

A species about a foot long, and generally rejected by fishermen, 
on acc6unt of its ugly appearance, is found all along the coast. (97. 
PorichUiys notatus). 

GoBiD^ — Goby Fajult. 

These are small fishes, only a fe^v inches long, but of remarkable 
form and structure, K-ving chiefly in muddy bays, on the bottom. Om- 
three known species are caught near San Francisco. (98. Lepidogohius 
gracilis; 99. Eiicyclogobius Newherrii; 100. GUliclitliys mirahilis.) 

CrciiOPTEEiDiE — Lump-Fish FAiEOiT. 
These are small fish, a fe-w inches long, found under stones at lo-w 
-water, and having the po-wer of adhering fii-mly to any object by means 
of their ventral fins, -which are formed like the common leather sucker 



zooLOG-r. 493 

used as a toy by school-boys. (101. Caularchus retieulatus ; 102. Lip- 
aris pidcJielius ; 103. L. mucosus). 

PiiETn!ONECTiD.a: — ^Flat-Fish Familt. 

These strangely shaped, though commoiL and favorite fish, haTe the 
body twisted around and flattened so as to bring both eyes on one side, 
which is always turned up as they swim along the bottom of salt water. 
All of our species are good eating, but some of stiperior quality are 
called "Soles," from their resemblance to that celebrated European 
fish ; (Nos. 107, 114). Another is called Turbot, though not the same 
as the Atlantic fish so called ; (No. 106). The two first are species of 
Halibut, one closely resembling the Atlantic fish, and grow over four 
feet long, the latter sometimes weighing five hundred or six hundred 
pounds. Both are caught near San Francisco. (104. Hippoglossus Cali- 
fornicus; 105. H. vulgaris? 106. Platichthys stellatus; 107. Parophrys 
vetulus; 108. Parophrys? Ayresii; 109. Platessa? hilineata ; 110. Par- 
alicTiihys maculosus ; 111. Pleuronichthys ccenosus ; 112. P. Hubhardii ; 
113. Hypopsetta guttulata ; 114. Psettichihys melanostictus ; 115. P. sor- 
didus ; 116. Metoponops Cooperi). 

GiibrDiE— Cod 'FaKttt.y:'^ 

These fine and valuable fish are represented so far south by only a 
few small species — ^very good eating when fresh. Abundance of salt 
cod are, however, brought to this market from the North Pacific, as fine 
as those of the Atlantic, and the ti-ade now employs several vessels 
annually, -wiih. a prospect of a vast iherease since the acquisition of 
Alaska, as they are caught in immense numbers on that coast. 

The California Whiting, or Hake (117. Merlucius productus) is rather 
rare in the San Francisco market, but common further north. It grovirs 
two feet long, and is one of the best of our fish. 

The Californian Codling, or dJusk (118. Brosmopliycis marglnatus) is 
also rare, and is known by its fins and tail being tipped Avith vivid red. 
It is, doubtless, also a good table-fish. 

The Pacific Tomcod (119. Gadiis proximus) is a little species caught 
in large numbers in San Francisco Bay during the colder months, but 
does not grow over six inches long. It is, however, a very good pan- 
fish. The "Masked Sand-Lauce" (120. Ammodgtes personatus) is an 
allied fish, of small size. 

OPHTDiDiE. — Sand-pish Fa3iiiiT. 
A very small species (121. Ophidion Taylori), only three or four 
inches long» is found in the sands of Monterey beach. 



494 THE NATTIRAl WEALTH OF CALIFOE>fIA. 

SAIiMONTDiE — The S.UiMON FAMrLT. 

These fish are probably the most important caught along our coast 
and in the rivers, both on account of their abundance and their excel- 
lence as food. The Salmon enter the rivers chiefly along the northern 
half of the coast in spring and fall, and are caught in great numbers. 

The Spring Salmon (122. Salmo quinnat) comes in the first months 
of the year, and specimens have been caught weighing sixty-four 
poimds, or even more, the usual mode being with gill-nets, set in the 
Sacramento river. 

The Fall Salmon (123. S. Sconleri) is less abundant, and the males 
are known by having a hooked snout. More of them are taken towards 
the north, and great numbers are salted or smoked for our market. 
Their average weight is eight to twelve pounds. 

The Salmon Trout (124. S. 3Iasoni?) is a species rarely over two 
feet long, caught in sjDring in the small streams running into San Fran- 
cisco Bay, and probably all along the northern half of the State. It 
is considered superior to either of the others. 

A "White Salmon of small size (S. aurora?) is found in the ocean 
and mouths of streams in summer, but is probably merelj^ the young 
of No. 121. 

The Northern Brook Trout (125. Salmo stellatus) is common in the 
mountain streams and lakes of the Sierra Nevada, where they often 
grow two feet long, and in Oregon are said to weigh at times fifteen 
pounds. They are excellent fish, either for the table or for angling, 
biting readily at most seasons. 

The Coast Eange Trout (126. Salmo iridea) is abundant in most of 
the clear western waters of the State, and furnishes much sport in sum- 
mer for city anglers visiting the country. It scarcely ever reaches the 
length of a foot. 

The Western Whitefish (127. Ooregonus Williamso7iir) is a species 
caught plentifully in Lake Tahoe and northward along the Sierra Ne- 
vada. It measures a foot or two in length, and is nearly as good as 
the trout, to which it is related. 

Two species of true "Smelts" are caught near San Francisco, and 
sold in the market with the larger but inferior "Shiners." (See Ather- 
intdce). They are not over seven inches long, and may be distinguished 
by having the posterior dorsal fin very small and thickened with fat, as 
in all of the Salmon Family. (128. Hypomesus jyretiosus ; 129. Osmcrus 
thaleicJithys). 



495 



ScoPEDiD^ — Stone-fish FamhiT. 

130. Synodus lucioceps is a Tery rare and curious little fish caught 
in San Francisco Bay, and little known. 

CLTrPETDa: — Hebeing Pamidt. 

The California Shad (131. Alaitsa Californica) is a rare species as far 
as known, and only taken as yet near San Francisco, 

Two species of Herrings are caught along nearly the whole coast, 
•and in great numbers. Though of different structure they are not dis- 
tinguished by fishermen as of different quality, and in the great abun- 
dance of better fish are not much used fresh, though salted or dried to 
some extent, especially by Chiaamen. (132. Clupea mimbilis ; 133. 
Meletta cosridea). 

Several species of Anchovies, or Sardines, remarkable for their 
size, are caught plentifully along the whole coast. Though of a tribe 
celebrated as a delicacy in Europe, they have not yet attracted much 
attention here. (134. Engraulis mordax ; 135. E. delicafissimus ; 136. 
E. compressus ; 137. E. nanus). Length from three to six inches. 

CtPKINODONTH)*— KlLIiY-FISH Famtlt. 

Three little species, not exceeding four inches long, and of no 
known use except for bait, are caught along our southern coast. (138. 
Gijprinodon Californiensis ; 139. Fmxdulus parvipinnis ; 140. F. — — ? 

MTJBiENiDiE — Eel Famht. 

The Pacific Conger (141. Murcena mordax) is common near our 
southern coast and islands, where they grow to a length of four feet 
or more, and are considered good eating. 

The Californian Snake-fish (142. OpJiidiurus Californiensis) is caught 
rarely at San Francisco and southward. It resembles an eel in form, 
and grows twenty inches or more in length. Qlyricliiliys tigrinus, Girard, 
from Astoria, Oregon, may be the same). 

Cypexnh)^ — Caep 'Famils. 

Many species are caught in the fresh waters of this State, but none 
are considered very good eating, as better fish are generally obtainable. 
The first three, are universally called Suckers, and, as well known, have 
the mouth underneath the head. They grow a foot and a half long. 
(143. Catostomus occidentalis; 144. C. Idbiatus; 145. Acomus generosus?) 

We have no fish very much like the Carp in form, and several of our 
largest species of this family are so unlike any English or American 
kinds that no distinctive name has yet been given to them. The two 



496 THE NATUK.U: WE.ULTH OF CALIFOPATA. 

following Lave been sold in San Francisco market as "Salmon Trout," 
but their rerj^ inferior quality soon exposes tLe imposition. They grow 
to a weight of six or eight pounds, and in external form are not very 
unlike trout. (148. Mylopharoclon robiishts ; 147. 31. conocephalus, yoimg 
of same ?) A closely allied fish, (148. 3Ii/locJieilus fraterculus), resem- 
bling the English Barbel, is caught m the rivers near Monterey. 

The first mentioned below has also been sold under the name of 
Salmon Trout, though quite distinct from No. 146, except in color, 
which is nearly alike in all om- Cyprinoids. It grows to the length of 
three feet, weighing sixteen pounds, and it is said even as high as 
thirty. The second is confined to the Colorado river, having nearly 
the same appearance^ and is there called "Salmon," though a poor sub- 
stitute for ttiat fine fish — there unkno^vn. The third, very similar, is 
caught near Monterey. (149. PttjchoclieiliiS grandls ; 150. P. luciiis ; lul. 
P. rajpax.) 

The nest two most resemble the " Buffalo-fish" of the Mississippi 
valley, old ones having the back very much humped, and are confined 
to the Colorado valley, where they are about the best fish caught. 
They grow a foot or two in length. (152. Gila rohusta ; 153. G. elegans ; 
probably young of No. 152.) 

Of the following, No. 154, resembles the English Dace, and is found 
in Tulare valley. Nos. 155 and 156, inhabiting the San Joaquin and 
Sacramento valleys, come nearest to the Eoach. No. 157 may be called 
a Tench, and is also from the San Joaquin. None of them are known 
to exceed a foot in length. (154. Luxilus occidentalis ; 155. Tigoma 
conformis ; 15.6 T. crassa ; 157. Siboma crassicauda.) 

No. 158 is near enough to the English Bleak to inherit that name, 
and inhabits the Sacramento. No. 159 inhabits the southeastern rivers, 
(Merced, Mohave, etc.), and, with allied species, resembles nearly the 
true Minnow, growing about six inches long. Nos. 160 and 161 are 
nearest to the Chub, and inhabit the San Joaquin, Salinas, etc. The 
former has been also sold by the names of "Pike," and "Herring;" 
the name "Pike" being also given sometimes to Nos. 149, 150, 151, 
152, and 153 — ^though there are no true Pike west of the Eoeky Moun- 
tains. (158. OrtJiodon microlepidotus ; 159. Algansea formosa ; 160. La- 
vinia exilicauda ; 161. L. Jiarengus.) 

The remaining species are like the English Gudgeon in form, 
having little cord-like feelers at the sides of the mouth, and may 
go by that name. They inhabit the interior rivers, growing aboir.t a 
foot long, and are probably the fish called " split-tail" in some places. 
(162. Pogonlclithys inceqidlobus ; 163. P. si/mmetricus ; 164. P. argyrei- 



ZOOLOGY. ■ 497 

osiis). Further comparison will probably unite these species, and per- 
haps others of this family, 

CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 

These Lave the skeleton only partly ossified, and many have no 
bones at all (itnless the teeth are called bones) their place being sup- 
plied by a cartilaginous frame. Some have the skin thickened into a 
kind of shell, and in nearly all, the ordinary scales are modified into 
bony plateS) spines, or altogether wanting. They are not generally 
eaten. 

The California Sun-fish (1G5, Orthagoriscus analis) resembles that 
of the North Atlantic, having a nearly circular form, with the fins 
behind. One has been taken near San Francisco seven and a half feet 
in length, and weighing 632 pounds ! They are sometimes harpooned 
for the oil they contain. 

The California Balloon-fish (166. Gastraphysus poiitiis), is- slightly 
prickly, a foot long or more, and can swell itself out, when irritated, 
into a nearly globular form. Found as yet only near San Diego. 

The Large Sea-horse (167. Hippocampus ingens) is about nine 
inches long, and like the Atlantic species has the head formed like that 
of a horse, the body enclosed in an angular plated armor, and the long 
tail suited for holding, on to sea-weeds, etc. It has only been met witli 
at San Diego and southward 

The Pipe-fish furnish us several species, much like those of the 
Atlantic ; slender, plated fish, with the mouth drawn out into a tube,, 
open at the end. They are found along the whole coast, and grow six 
to twelve inches long. (168. Syngnathus Calif or tiiensis ; 169. ,5'. griseo- 
Uneatus ; 170. S. lepforhynekus: ; 171. S. dimidiatus ; 172. S. arundin- 
aceus ; 173. DermatosietJius punctipinnis). 

The Sturgeons enter the rivers- near San Francisco, and north, ini 
large numbers, and are of great size. The first mentioned is called 
White Sturgeon, and is the largest fish sold in the markets, often weigh- 
ing one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds, and sometimes as high 
as three hundi-ed. The second, called ' ' green, " is, however, said to 
grow fifteen feet long, and to weigh eight hundred pounds ! The third 
is little known. (174. Antaceus hrachyrhynclms ; 175. A. acidirostris ; 
176. A. medirostris). 

The Elephant-fish, or Skooma, (177. Hydrolagiis Colliei) is a curious, 
shark-like fish, two feet long, and with a pointed Ml, an elongated 
snout, and plate-like teeth. The Indians esteem them as food. 

32 



498 THE NATtJKAIi WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

The Sharks are numerous along our whole coast, and some of the 
larger kinds are taken in large numbers for the oil which is extracted 
irom. their livers. The first is known to grow six feet in length, and 
sharks of ten feet are said to follow vessels near the coast — perhaps of 
the second species. The others have not been found over three or foiir 
feet long, and no instances of any of them having attacked persons 
when bathing have been recorded. (178. Notorhyiichus maculatus ; 179. 
Isoplagiodon Henlei ; 180. Triads semifasciatus ; 181. Gyropleurodus 
Francisci ; 182. Acanthias Sucklii, the Dog-fish ; 183. S])hyramalleus, 
the Hammer-headed Shark; 184. Aiopias vulpes? the Thrasher.) The 
California Angel-fish (185. Bhina Cali/ornica) is like the Atlantic spe- 
cies, a sort of wide-flattened Shark, with wing-like fins on each side, 
and grows three or four feet long. It occurs rarely near San Fran- 
cisco. 

The Eay family has also many representatives,! but they are not con- 
sidered of much use, though some are eaten by the Chinese and others. 
The first grows four feet long ; most of the others are nearly as broad 
as long, or broader, and the Torpedo much resembles that of the ■west- 
ern Atlantic. The three last, called Sting-rays, have a spine in the 
tail, "with which they inflict severe wounds. Some of these have been 
found eighteen feet wide. (186. Rhinobatus p)roductus ; 187. Ehinoptera 
vespertilio ; 188. Uraptera binoculaia ; 189. Torpedo Cali/ornica ; 190. Uro- 
lopliua Halleri; 1^\. Pteroplatea marmorata ; 192. Trygon ?) 

The Lampreys are the Eel-like flsh of this division. They have no 
bones, and scarcely any teeth, only sufficient to make a slight incision 
in the skin of the fishes on which they fasten themselves to suck their 
blood like leeches, thus forming a link with the next lower class of ani- 
mals. They enter the fresh water streams in large numbers in spring, 
and are occasionally caught by hand in shallow waters, being highly 
prized by some foreigners, though not much esteemed by Americans. 
They grow two or three feet long. (193. Lampetra plumhea ; 194. Enios- 
phenus epohexadon; 195. E. ciliatus.) 

Finally, there is a little worm-like fish found as yet only at San 
Diego, (though similar ones occur on the shores of the Atlantic), so low 
in development that it has no eyes, Jieart, or even brain, and looks like a 
bit of white gristle, flattened at the sides, and tapering towards each 

end. It maybe called the "Worm-fish," (196. BrancMostoma /) 

Its length is about two inches, and it lives buried in the sand. 



MOLLUSCA— SHELL-FISH. 

To mention tlie numerous species of tliis class found in California 
■would be impossible here, so we must limit this notice to a few eatable 
kinds. 

The so-called "Date Fish," or "Kock Oysters," are several species 
of bivalves, which bore into soft rocks or clay between tides, from 
which they are easily extracted, and are considered among the best of 
the class for the table. Similar kinds are called "Piddocks" on some 
parts of the Atlantic shores. (1. Zirphcea crispata; 2. Pholadidea ijenita; 
3. ParapJiolas Cali/ornica). 

Some other harder-shelled species are found with these and not 
■usually distinguished, though much inferior for eating. (4 Saxicava 
jolioladis ; 5. Platyodon cancellatus). 

Much larger shell-fish, burrowing in softer earth, are occasionally 
obtained, and called Squirt-clams. Their shells are often six inches 
long, and one animal enough for a good meaL (6. Glycimeris gene- 
rosa; 7. ScMzotJicerus Nuttalli). 

Several kinds, called Kazor-fish, are found in the sandy sea-beaches 
and bays, but have not yet been much sought for, though considered 
about third rate for eating. (8. Solensicarius; 9. Solecurtus Califor- 
nianus; 10. Ilachcera patula). 

Several kinds, confounded as "Soft-shell Clams," are abundant 
along several parts of the coast, and some of them m-uph eaten, though 
liable to have sand or mud inside the shell. They grow three or four 
i]aches wide, and are flattened. (11. Sanguinolaria Nuitalii ; 12. Ma- 
coma seda ; 13. 31. nasuta ; 14. Tellina Bodegensis). Several others 
might be mentioned, but are rarely obtained alive. 

The "Hard-shell Clams," " Quahogs," etc., are numerous, and 
therefore much eaten, though inferior to most of the preceding for the 
table. They are dug at low water in most sandy bays, and the largest 
grow only about four inches wide. (15. Cliione succhicta ; 16. Tapes 
tenerrima ; 17. T. laciniafa ; 18. T. utaminea ; 19. Saxidomus gracilis ; 
20. S. Nuttallii). No. 18 is the most common at San Francisco. 

The " Cockles " are sometimes dug for food, but not so commonly, 
though very good for soups. They are sometimes four inches wide 
and three in thickness. (21. Cardium corbis ; 22. C. quadragenartum). 

The "Mussels" are abundant along the whole coast, and the first 
named is most common, growing sometimes nine inches in length. 
The second, also found in the North Atlantic, is smaller, and found 
chiefly in brackish bays. (23. Mytilus Californianus ; 24. 31. edulis). 



500 THE XATDE.1L WEALTH OF CxVLIFOKXIA, 

The "Fresh-water Mussels" are foimd iii all the larger interior 
streams, but rarely eaten, though not unpalatable. Pearls may be 
found in them occasionally, especially in the fii-st. {26. Margaritana 
falcata; 27. Anodonta angulata; 28. A. Calif orniensis; 29. A. OregoTiensis; 
30. A. Wahlamatensis.) 

Several species of Scallops are found along the coast, but not much 
eaten, though doubtless as good as those of the Atlantic. The largest 
species are mentioned, growing four inches wide and an inch thick. 
(31. Fecten hastaius; 32. F. vcntricosus). Avery large kind, of ten with 
a shell six inches long and four wide, but in-egular and rough outside, 
is rather common, and the shells often mistaken for those of Oysters, 
though when young they are perfect Scallops. (33. Hinnites giganteus). 

The Oysters native in our bays are rather small in size, but great 
quantities of larger ones are brought from the more northern coast and 
planted in San Francisco Bay, where they become very good. A Mexi- 
can species is also brought here, which grows four or five inches long, 
but these large ones are considered too tough. The attempt is being 
made to naturalize them in the bay. (34 Ostrea Imida; 35. 0. concJia- 
phild). 

Of the Univalves very few are eaten, though they will probably be 
more used when better known, as many of their allies are on both 
coasts of the Atlantic. Some of the largest Snails are eaten, chiefly 
by foreigners, and are said to be equal to the European species, so 
much prized by some epicures. They gi-ow about an inch or an inch 
and a half high and wide. (36. Helix arrosa; 37. H. tiidiculata; 38. H. 
fidelis; 39. H. infumcda, and perhaps others). 

Some of the "Abelones," or "Ear-shells," gi'owing here ten inches 
ia width and two deep, are much sought for, though the foot, which 
alone is eaten, is very tough and needs much pounding. They are 
numerous on many parts of the coast, and lai-ge numbers are dried by 
t!ie Chinese. (40. Haliotis Cracherodii; 41. H. ru/escens; 42. H. splen- 
dens; 43. H. corrugata, the last two rare). The shells are also exported 
for inlaying work. 

The Limpets are eaten on other coasts, and our largest species here 
also occasionally, but not much in request. It grows two inches long. 
(44. Lottia gigantea, and probably some Acmeas). 

Some of the large Top-shells, found here from two to thi-ee inches 
high, and the same in width, are eatable, but have not been much used. 
(44. Fomaulax undosus; 45. FacJiijpoma gibberosum). Our "Periwin- 
kles " (Littorina) are too small to be eaten. 

Our large ' ' Sea Snail, " (46. Lmmtia Leiuisii), growing five inches 



ZOOLOGY. 501 

■wide and nearly globular, is eaten by tlie Indians, but has not attracted 
much attention from others. 

Several, which may be called ""Whelks," as they resemble more oi 
less the Atlantic species so called, grow four or five inches long, and 
are doubtless quite as good as that animal for food, but have not yet 
been offered for sale, though manycould be obtained by proper means. 
(47. Prioie Oregonensis ; 48. Banella Cali/ornica ; 49. Nassa fossata ; 
50. Purpura crispata ; 51 . Chorum Beldieri ; 52. Chrysodomus toJbulatus, 
and many smaller kinds). 

Of " Cuttle-fish " and " Squids," of which many kinds are eaten in 
Europe, and much used for bait on th'e Atlantic coast, we have several 
species, some growing three feet long, their arms stretching seven feet. 
They are much used by the Chinese, who consider them a luxury, and 
dry many for export to China. Among them is the kind whioh forms 
the beautiful Paper Nautilus, or Argonaut Shell (53. Argonauta Argo ; 
54. Octopus pidiatatus ; 55. Ommasirephes giganteiis). 



CBTTSTACEA. 

Cbabs, Lobstees, SHEurps. 

These animals are abundant and large on our coast, but few species 
are used as food, although many more might doubtless be so. 

The "Crabs" common in San Francisco market are of the follow- 
ing species, the first and largest of which grows six or eight inches in 
width, and all are excellent eating. (1. Cancer magister ; 2. C. anten- 
narius ; 3. C. productus). A vast number of strange and little kno^va 
species of Crabs are found in the salt waters, some of them growing 
over a foot in breadth, but too rarely caught to be used as food. 

The "Lobster," Avhich, however, has not the large claws of the 
Atlantic species, grows a foot and a half long, and is a favorite luxury, 
brought by steamers in large numbers from Santa Barbara. (4. Fan- 
ulirus interruptus). 

The "Shrimps" are caught abundantly in the bays, and almost 
always plentiful in market. They grow three inches long. (5. Cran- 
gon Franciscorum ; 6. C. nigricauda). 

"Crawfish " are also found in the interior, burrowing in the muddy 
banks of fresh water streams, and are doubtless very good eating, 
some beiag four or five inches long. (7. Astacus ?) 



CHAPTEll VIIL 

FLOEA. 

General Kemarks— Sequoia — ^The Mammoth or Big Trees — lledwood — California Pines — 
Oaks — Cedars — Firs — California Nutmeg — California Tew Tree — Laurel — Manzanita — 
Madrona — Horse Chestnut, or Buckeye — Shmbs and Plants — Poison Oak — Alder — Bar- 
berry — Canchalagua — Pitcher Plant — Yerba Buena — Flaxworts — Plea-bane— Soap Plant 
Grasses — Catalogue of Native Trees of California. 

It appears from the reports of Botanists, over eighty of -whom 
pursued their labors in California and Oregon, between the years 
1792 and 1865, that only eighteen hundred different sjiecies were 
collected during that period. Of these eighteen hundi-ed species, 
seventy-four per cent, are found in the collections of the State Geo- 
logical Survey and of the California Academy of Sciences. Five per 
cent, are new to science, and eleven per cent, new to California. The 
Flora of California presents raany original and striking features ; the 
trees, shrubs, plants, flowers, and even the mosses, ferns, etc., while 
bearing a general resemblance to corresponding orders and genera else- 
where, are here marked by strong individual peculiarities; and in many 
instances the Flora exhibits examples wholly original — ^for instance, 
the Mammoth or Big Tree (Sequoia giganfea) and the Monterey Cypress 
(Cu2)ressus 3Iacrocarpa) occur nowhere out of California. The rapid 
gTowth of Californian vegetation is remarkable; the Botanist is sui-prised 
to find, after only a fortnight's absence, in revisiting the same locality, 
that not only most lands of its flowering plants during that time have 
ripened their seeds, but that many new plants have made their appear- 
ance. The mountains of California are covered with forests of Pine, 
Cedar and Fir, exhibiting a great preponderance of coniferous over 
dicotyledonous trees, these conifers being restricted for the most part 
to the sea-coast and the mountain sides. Our streams are fringed with 
various deciduous trees and shrubs, whilst in the vast plains and prairie 
country of the valleys the prevailing plants are graminew, compositce, 
leguviinosce, with a greater number of Uliaccce than in any part of tho 



FLORA. 503 

Eastern States. This proportion seems to liold good until the foot- 
hills of the Sierra are reached, where a greater variety of species, as 
■well as of genera and classes, are met -with. Here the graminecB 
diminish in number, while the cruciferce and the compositce greatly 
increase. Here, also, the ranimculacece and geranice, with numerous 
variously colored and brilliant lahiaka occur ; some of these mountain 
meadows, by the great variety of their flowering plants, outvying in 
this respect the most carefully selected flower gardens of the East. 
The same remark applies to the vegetation covering the several moun- 
tain ranges, these difl^erences of form being so notable as to entitle 
them to a special Flora. Sometimes these distinctions are so broadly 
marked and obvious as to strike the casual observer, while again they 
are so slight and difficult of detection as to be found only by careful 
scientific analysis. In some cases these differences go to the essential 
properties of the tree or plant, while again they relate only to form, 
color, or other external characteristics. The principal reason of this 
mere dissimilarity is found in the fact that the Flora of California, 
owing to its isolated position, is purely indigenous. Cut off from all 
parts of the world by the great ocean that borders it on the west, and 
separated by the lofty Sierra and a succession of arid deserts from 
countries to the south and east, it has remained as when first shaped 
by the hand of nature. Its condition is normal, and, therefore, to 
some extent sui generis — a feature, that while it opens to the scientist a 
peculiarly inviting field, commands also, in many cases, the attention 
of the utilitarian and economist. 

Confirmed by soil and climate, their original peculiarities have 
become so inherent in many of the species, that they do not thrive in 
other lands, and even refuse in some cases to grow at all ; thus, Lilium 
WasJiingtonium, (Kell.), and many seeds and young plants of California 
growth, have in numerous instances been tried in foreign soils, and 
though planted under the most favorable conditions, have failed to 
fructify or take root, or, if they did begin to vegetate, died soon after, 
or maintained only a feeble and sickly existence. On the other hand, 
a few of these California productions take kindly to their new homes, 
and become even more fruitful and vigorous than when growing in 
their native soil ; while it is worthy of remark that almost every plant 
of foreign origin finds in some part of this State a soil, climate, and 
other natural conditions, adapted to its constitutional requirements. 
In no other country is the range within which the products of the veg- 
etable kingdom are capable of arriving at early and entire perfection 
so broad as in California. Practically it may be said, in this particu- 



504 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALEFOKNIA, 

lar, to cover all tlie zones tliat belt the earth with climatic differences. 
In fact, there is scarcely a cereal, fruit, plant or tree, wherever the 
place of its nativity, that cannot be grown and matured in the open 
air in some part of California. It may not be found economical in all 
cases to attemj)t the culture of these products on an extended scale, 
nor is it affirmed that they can here be raised in every instance so 
readily as in the countries to which they are indigenous ; but simply 
that such is the variety of our soil and climate, that a locality can be 
found in some part of the State, where all the vegetable products of the 
world can be grown at least as an experiment, and a very large class 
of them with the greatest success. 

The niimber of forest trees, exclusive of shrubs, found growing 
north of San Francisco and south of the Cokimbia river, does not 
probably exceed fifty. Both in number and size, the Coniferce greatly 
predominate. The forest trees are distributed among the following 
genera : Pinus, 8; Abies, 5; Picea, 3; Sequoia, 2; Oupressus, 2; Thuja, 
1; Lebocedrus, 1; Larix, 1; Taxus, 1; Torreya, 1; Querciis, 5; Populus, 
3 ; Salix, 5 ; Fraxinus, 2 ; Acer, 2; Alnus, 1 ; Cornus, 1 ; Platanus, 1 ; 
Castanea, 1; ^sculus, 1; Arbutus, 1; Oreodapline, 1. 

In California the forest growth ceases almost entirely at from ten 
thousand to eleven thousand feet altitude. On Mount Shasta all large 
trees disappear at an elevation of about eight thousand feet, only a 
few shrubs being found above this elevation. Of these shrubs a species 
of small pine, {Pinus alhicaulis, or P. Jlexilis of the English botanist), 
grows in favorable places at a height of about nine thousand feet ; 
some of these trees have here been so flattened and compacted in their 
foliage by the snow that a man can stand, and even walk upon them, 
without trouble. The Flora of this elevated locality conform more to 
that of the Arctic region tlian to that of most lofty mountains in the 
temperate zones. 

At Mount Shasta, and in no other part of California, is found the 
Pxotococcus nivalis, or " red snow," one of the lowest forms of vegetable 
life, and peculiar to most high Alpine regions. It is the only sign of 
life above nine thousand feet, and makes its appearance from eight 
thousand to twelve thousand feet, tinging with a purple or crimson hue 
all this part of the mountain. When the snow is softened and warmed 
by the sun, the footprints of persons walking over it are stained with 
a blood-red color. 

To collate within the space at our. command the entire Flora of this 
State would be impracticable, therefore only a brief synopsis of the 
same will here be attempted. Much of the matter contained in the 



FLOEA. 505 

following notes has been drawn from tlie reports of Dr. A. Kellogg, 
H. C. Bloomer (Curator of Botany, California Academy of Natural 
Sciences), Prof. H. N. Bolander, and to Dr. Newberry, of the Pacific 
Eailroad Surveying Expedition, 

SEQUOIA. 

ISE Bia XBEES. 

Sequoia Giganfea, (the Mammoth or Big Trees.) — The Sequoia is 
found only in California — the Sequoia Gigantea only in a few localities — 
there being but six or seven groves, so far as known, in the entire State; 
though it is probable others exist in the unexplored regions of the 
Sierra Nevada. Three of these groves are in Mariposa county, one in 
Calaveras, one in Tuolumne, and one or two in Tulare county — the 
trees in the latter locality being scattered over a great extent of coun- 
try, admit of their being considered one grove or several. The three 
Mariposa groves are within two miles of each other. The second one 
in size contains eighty-six trees ; the third, thirty-five. The Tuolumne 
grove contains ten trees — one or two of which are said to be thirty-five 
feet in diameter. The Calaveras mammoth grove was the first discov- 
ered, and has attracted many visitors. 

One peculiarity of this tree consists in its bearing two kinds of 
leaves — those on the young tree, and on the lower branches of the 
larger one, being about five eighths of an inch long, and one eighth 
wide. They are set in pairs opposite each other, on little stems. The 
other kind of leaves grow on the bi-anehes that have borne flowers, are 
triangular in shape, about an eighth of an inch long, and lie close down 
to the stem. The cones, solitary, or two or three together on long pe- 
dicels, are not much larger than a hen's egg, whereas the cones of many 
smaller conifers of the Coast are larger than pine apples. The seeds of 
the Sequoia gigantea are not more than a quarter of an inch long, a 
sixth wide, and almost as thin as writing paper, it taking about fifty 
thousand of them to weigh one pound. The bark is constructed on a 
different plan from that of most other trees — ^it being deeply corrugated 
longitudinally. The corrugated layers are of a harder texture, and the 
interstices are packed with an elastic, spongy substance. It is reddish 
brown in color, generally very thick — on the large trees not less than 
eighteen inches. The wood is soft, elastic, straight-grained, free-split- 
ting, light when dry, and red in color — bearing a close resemblance to 
red cedar, but the grain is not quite so even, and is very valuable. 
The big tree grows in a deep, fertile soil, and is always surrounded by 
a dense growth of other evergreens, comprising the various species of 



506 THE NATUEAl WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

Pine, Fir, Spruce, and California Cedar. Many young trees of tlio 
Sequoia g'ujantea, produced from the seed, are growing in gardens in 
California, in the Eastern States, and in Europe. 

"We have it on the authority of a statement made by Professor "Whit- 
ney, at a meeting of the California Academy of Sciences, May, 1867, 
that among the remains of miocene plants found in the coal beds of 
Greenland, were fossilized portions of the Sequoia, or Big Trees — that 
region being now covered with almost constant snow and ice. 

The larger of the standing trees in the Calaveras grove, range in 
size from 275 to 366 feet in height, and from 50 to 64 feet in circumfer- 
ence — some of the prostrate trees having originally been of larger 
dimensions than any of those standing. Many of the trees in the 
Tulare group are reported to be larger than any found in the Calaveras 
Grove, one of the former being, according to measurements made by 
members of the State Geological Survey, 106 feet in circumference at 
the base and 276 feet high. A part of this tree was burned away, the 
girth having been originally between 115 and 120 feet. It is proper to 
observe that nearly all these trees expand greatly at the base, measur- 
hig much less ten or fifteen feet above than they do immediately at the 
ground ; hence, where accuracy is desired, it should be known at about 
what height the measurement is made. The tree above mentioned as 
having a girth of 106 feet at the roots gave but 7G feet when measured 
at a point only twelve feet above the ground. 

KEDWOOD. 

Sequoia Sempe)~virens, (Endl.), Redwood. — This tree, first discov- 
ered by Menzies, in 1796, is only second in size, while it stands first 
in commercial value among the mighty forest trees of California, 
though not much superior to the sugar pine in either respect. Doug- 
lass, in speaking of it, declares that its appearance upon the mountains 
of California is so majestic as to inspire the beholder with emotions of 
awe. The Pedwood belongs exclusively to the foggy regions of the 
Coast Ranges, and the underlying metamorphic sandstone, for wherever 
either of these is wanting the tree does not exist. From the northern 
boundary line of the State down to the head of Tomales bay it forms 
a continuous forest^ increasing in width northward. At Tomales bay 
the chain is interrupted by a small bed of lime rock. The interruption 
extending from the lower foot-hills of Tamalpais do^-n to Belmont, is 
undoubtedly owing to the lowness of the hills. A connecting link is 
found, however, on the Oakland hills ; the grove of redwood found there, 
now almost entirely destroyed, affording the strongest evidences of the 



FLOBA. 507 

dependency of this species on tlie prevalence of heavy mists. Extend- 
ing from Belmont to a few miles below Santa Cruz, is another narrow 
continuous forest of these trees, occupying mainly the tops and western 
slope of the mountains and the deeper gulches eastward. Prom near 
the mouth of Salinas river to the head of Carmelo valley, another long 
interruption is caused by the occurrence of a bituminous slate forma- 
tion. The absence of redwood in this long interval can hardly be 
ascribed to any other cause, inasmuch as Monterey and the adjacent 
regions are subject to heavier fogs than Santa Cruz. Pinus Insignis, 
and Oupressus macrocarpa, occupy here those portions naturally belong- 
ing to the redwood and Tsuga Douglasii. Further south, from the head 
of Carmelo valley to San Luis Obispo, its most southern limit, red- 
wood occurs but sparingly, forming nowhere extensive groves. 

Associated with the redwood, we find Tsuga Douglasii, a tree having 
a wide range ; Torreya Californica ; Arbutus Menziesii ; Quercus densi- 
flora ; and in Mendocino county, Abies grandis, (Dougl.); together with 
some shrubs and herbaceous plants bearing its characteristics. The 
shrubs, which increase as followed northward, belong mostly to the 
Ericacseous family. It is a noteworthy fact that the arborescent growth 
on the seaward side of the first range of hills generally consists almost 
exclusively of Tsuga Douglasii — this tree forming the otitskirt east, and 
particularly westward. In Mendocino county Abies grandis unites with 
it for the same cause — ^both these trees there forming a dense belt facing 
the ocean, and are encroaching fast on the redwood. In fact, the west- 
ern portion of those redwoods show this encroachment most strikingly 
by a total absence of young trees, while a dense undergrowth of the 
two mentioned species is springing up. The order of things is reversed, 
however, wherever the redwood has been removed. Its roots are im- 
perishable, and as soon as the tree is cut they sprout and cover the soil 
rapidly, to the exclusion of every other species — none other being of 
so rapid a growth. The indestructibility of the roots renders the clear- 
ing of such land difficult ; even the stumps of large trunks cut down 
cover themselves within two or three years so completely with sprouts 
that they can hardly be seen. The entire aftergrowth now found on 
the Oakland hills is owing solely to the indestructibility of the roots 
and stumps of the original forest. The tenacity of life in this species, 
of rather rare occurrence ia Coniferous trees, shows itself also in the 
resistance it offers to fire. Trees bereft completely of their branches 
by this element cover themselves in a few years entirely with young 
sprouts, giving the trunks the appearance of a pillar, or one of those 
old trees often seen in the east covered with BJms toxicodendron. Even 



508 THE NATDEAL -^TjU^TH OF CALEFOnXIA. 

trees, after thej have obtained a thickness of a foot or two, are not 
liable to suffer from the effects of hre. 

Another property peculiar to this species, is the great power it 
possesses in condensing fogs and mists. A heavy fog is always turned 
by it into rain, wetting the soil and supplying springs with water dur- 
ing the dry season ; hence, springs situated in or near the red- 
woods are seldom in want of a good supply, while crops on the Coast 
Eange are not liable to fail. It will sureh^ happen that if the redwoods 
are destroyed, and th«y necessarily will be if not protected by law, 
certain portions of California, now fruitful, will become comparatively 
a desert. The unhappy experience of other countries, such as Asia 
Minor, Greece, France and Spain, should admonish us of the fatal 
effects of suffering an entire removal of the forests, and lead to a timety 
adoption of effective measures to prevent their destruction in this State. 
Our people have been duly warned of this danger, Bolander and other 
eminent botanists having called their attention to it years ago. 

In explanation of the singular manner in which the larger sized 
Sequoia are occasionally formed. Dr. W. P. Gibbons first directed 
attention to the fact, that it has been found that three or four of these 
trees standing in proximity, have by the expansion of theii- growth been 
finally brought together and formed into one trunk. Since his sug- 
gestion of this method of gi-owth numerous examples of it have been 
reported ; among other.s, one occurring near Searsville, where several 
redwood trees have for a height of over forty feet grown together form- 
ing a single solid trunk. The only way to arrive at the age of such 
trees, is to count the number of rings indicating the annual growth 
from some single center. The oldest of these redwoods is about 1, 500 
years of age, much less than that of the Sequoia Girjantea. These red- 
woods are evidently the second generation of the race ; therefore, it 
may be inferred that 3, 000 years at least have passed since the pres- 
ent growth first commenced on the Coast Eange. But long before tliis, 
vegetation must have covered portions of these hills, as the Sequoia 
reposes in a bed, of alluvium from twenty to thirty feet in depth. The 
brdbous expansion of these trees near the base is composed of an 
enlargement of the roots growing together, and forming a complete net 
work. The height of this indicates the degree of denudation which 
the soil has undergone during the lifetime of the tree, being about five 
feet in 1,500 years. Around the base of each of these trees lie from 
10,000 to 14,000 buds partially developed, possessing each the power, 
under favorable conditions, of being developed and forming a perfect 



FLOEA. 509 

tree. The mass of wood containecl in a tree of this kind, twenty-five 
feet in diameter, is equal to 40,000 cubic feet, weighing over 2,500,000 
pounds. 

CAUFOENIA PINES. 

According to the classification of Prof, Bolander, the pines of 
California are divided into sixteen true species. There are twenty 
synonyms for these species, which have created some confusion as to 
their real name and number. The correct names of all, with the popular 
characteristics of the most striking, and their distribution, are herein 
given. The names marked thus (*) are those of trees having persistent 
cones, which they retain from ten to twenty years in some instances. 
Those marked thus (f) retain their cones but two years, whUe those to 
which this mark is attached (t) throw off a series of cones every year. 
It is worthy of remark that all the conifers of the Pacific coast exhibit 
a symmetry and perfection of figure, as well as a healthfuhiess and 
vigor of growth, not attained by similar trees in any other part of the 
world. 

Firms Insignis,'^ (Dough), well known as the Monterey Pine, and 
much cultivated in San Francisco. This tree covers many thousand 
acres in the vicinity of Monterey and Carmelo, forming quite a forest 
along the coast between these places : sixty to one hundi-ed feet high, 
one to three feet in diameter; shape very irregular, often only a few 
rigid, much-spreading branches; foliage dense and of a vivid green 
color ; cones persistent, ten to nineteen whorls ; bark very thick and 
rimose. The streets of San Pranciseo, formerly planked with Oregon 
lumber, are now laid with the Monterey Pine, it being very resinous, 
and therefore standing the wear and tear better. It is also much used 
for bridges, floors, etc. 

F. Muricafa,'^ (Don.)— Only species growing in the above vicinity, 
and which cannot be confounded with the Insignis. Singularly enough, 
it has many synonyms, the trees and cones being of great uniformity ; 
among the names by wliich it is known are the following : F. Badiata, 
F. Sindarii, and F. Tuherculata. 

Finns Tuherculata,* (Don.), Tuberculated Coned Pine.— This tree 
was first found by Dr. Coulter, south of Monterey, together with the 
F. Insignis, near the level of the 'sea and close to the beach. The 
foliage sparse and duU; rather bluish-green color; height from fifteen 
to thirty feet; diameter six to fourteen inches. Found also at Santa 
Cruz, Ukiah, Oakland hills. Forest Hill, and Eureka. The eones from 
the diflerent localities are of great uniformity, but differ esseiitially 



510 THE NATUEAl WEALTH OF CALIFOENLi. 

from tliose of tlie P. Insignia of Monterey, tliougli the two trees 
strongly resemble eacli other. "Wlaorls of cones ten to twenty. Both 
species gi'ow near the coast, but on different soil, the P. Insigr.is pre- 
fering a soil produced by the disintegration of a bituminous slate and 
granite ; while the other prefers a soil derived from metamorphosed 
sandstone. Should these two species be definitely united, after a 
thorough investigation, they would afford a striking example of the 
influence of different soils. It is singular to find such a well charac- 
terized form restricted to one locality, though this would not here prove 
an isolated fact, the Abies Bractwata being similarly confined to one 
locality in California. Isolation is in fact more or less a characteristic 
with all our trees, there being few countries where the influences of 
soil, climate, and exposition are so well and abruptly marked and 
unmistakably defined as in this. 

P. Contorta,* Pougl. ?), Twisted Pine.— Head of Tomales Bay, 
Mendocino City, and foot-hills of the Sierra. Its manner of growth 
much resembles that of P. Insignis. It attains the same height, has 
the same irregular spreading branches, the same thick rimose bark 
and resinous wood. The leaves are invariably in pairs, and slightly 
silvery on the lower surface. The cones are scarcely two inches long. 

Pimts Ponderosa,X (Dough), the well known Yellow Pine, attains a 
height of two hundred and twenty-five feet or more, and a circumfer- 
ence of twenty-three or twenty-four feet. Its leaves grow in threes at 
the ends of the branches, presenting a peculiarly tufted appearance; 
their color dark yellowish-green; the bark of a light yellowish-brown, 
or cork color, is divided into large smooth plates from four to eight 
inches wide, and from twelve to twenty inches long, whereby the tree 
may be recognised at a distance. The Yellow Pine is found at Eussian 
Ptiver Valley, south of Clear Lake Geysers, Auburn, Forest Hill, San 
Jose Valley, Blue Mountain, Eocky Mountains and New Mexico. ■ 

Pinus Lamhertiana* (Dough), the well known Sugar Pine, or Long 
Coned Pine of Fremont, usually grows at great altitudes. The mature 
tree sometimes reaches a height of three hundred feet, and a diameter 
of ten or fifteen feet ; leaves are three inches long, dark bluish-green ; 
grows in groups of five ; foliage not dense ; cones large, sometimes 
eighteen inches long by four thick. The wood is similar to the White 
Pine (Pinus Strohus) of the Easterii States — white, soft, homogeneous, 
straight-grained, clear and free splitting ; it furnishes the best lumber 
in the State for " inside work" of houses, being the chief building 
material used in the Sierra Nevada, where it gi'ows, and in adjacent sec- 
tions. The tree derives its name from a sweet resinous gum which 



FLOKA. 511 

exudes from the duramen or liard wood portions. This substance in 
appearance, granulation and taste, resembles the manna of the drug 
stores, except by a slight terebinthine flavor. It is found only in small 
quantities, and has cathartic properties. 

Pinus Ooulteri,-f Coulter's Pine. — ^Found on the eastern slope of 
the Coast Bange in the Santa Lucia Mountains; not large; sometimes 
attains a height of seventy-five feet ; knotty, highly ornamental ; 
branches large and spreading; leaves a foot long, and pale sea-green in 
color. It is remarkable for having the largest cone of all the pines — 
seventeen inches in length, seven inches through, and shaped like a 
sugar-loaf. 

Pinus Sdbiniana,\ (Dougl.) — This is the ISTut Pine of the foot-hills, 
sometimes called the "Scrub Pine," "Silver Pine," or the "Digger 
Pine ;" found on the lower slopes of both the Coast Eange and Sierra 
Nevada, occupying the drier positions — ^leaves from four to ten inches 
long, grow in threes. The California Indians formerly gathered the 
nuts from its cone — they being with them a favorite article of food. 
The woodpecker selects them as store houses for its winter food, cutting 
holes in the bark and putting an acorn in each. 

P'mus Monticola,X Mountain Pine. — A tall tree affording fine timber, 
harder than the Sugar Pine, and might be preferred, if its position near 
the summits of the Sierra did not make it difficult of access. 

PinuH Flexilis.l — This j)ine grows in the form of a low scrubby tree 
on windy heighths, so stout and thick that a man can stand on its top. 
In low altitudes it reaches a height of one hundred feet. It is useful 
only for firewood. 

Pinus Monophylla. — This is a stinted, twisted tree ; grows on the 
eastern slope of the Sierra, corresponding to the Nut Pine of the west- 
ern slope. The cone is ill shaped and has an offensive odor, but yields 
a sweet nut. Spanish name : "pinon." 

There are several species in the group of Coast Pines, viz : P. Lla- 
vena, east of San Diego ; P. Deflexa, on the summit of California moun- 
tains ; P. Torreyana, near San Diego ; P. Balfouriana — this species is 
found near Scott's valley, in Northern California. 

Five species of the above list, the Iitsignis, Muricata, Llavenea, Del- 
flexa, and Torreynvia, are peculiar to the sea coast. Pive species, the 
Crmtorta, Ponderosa, Lamhertiana, Sdbiniana, and Tuherculafa, are found 
both in the Coast Eange and Sierra Nevada. The CouUeri is only found 
in the coast Eange, eastern slope ; the ITonificoZa only high in the Sierra; 
the FlexiUs only on the upper Sierra and lower slope of the same ; and 
tlie Monophylla only on the eastern slope. 



512 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEXLV. 

OAES. 

Quercus agrifolia, (Nees.), California Live Oak. — Oakland, banks 
of Sacramento river, Clear Lake, Eussian Eiver valley, Anderson's val- 
ley, Monterey. Foliage extremely variable, the live oak exhibiting 
almost every conceivable size and form of oak leaf. On river banks 
and its localities near the coast, where it feels the influence of the daily 
fogs, this tree displays much uniformity. In the valleys of the interior 
the shapes of the leaves of one and the same ti-ee differ materially. In 
Anderson's valley there are several ti-ees, the entire foliage of -which 
agrees Avell with Dr. Kellogg's Q. moreJms. On dry gravelly hiU-sides 
in the interior this tree presents still another form, Q. TVisUzeni (Eng.) 
As it has the habit of growing in groups, one might suppose that trees 
of one group, at least, should show uniformity in botanical characters; 
yet this does not happen, the very extremes sometimes occurring in a 
single group. The acorns ripen annually, and differ also essentially in 
shape and size. Soil, climate, and exposition, offer in this case no 
satisfactory explanation for so great a variation in one species. It is 
no doubt justly referable to some intrinsic peculiarities. This tree 
makes excellent firewood, and is also used for certain mechanical pur- 
poses. 

Q. Ganijana, (Hook.), "White Oak. — On dry easterly hiU-sides and 
in valleys on a poor, buff-colored clay. Santa Eosa valley. Clear Lake, 
Searsville, Anderson's valley, San Jose valley. Exposition and soil 
agree in all these localities ; bark rather thin, whitish, and less coarsely 
rimose than any other of the California oaks. This wood possessing a 
fine grain, is much employed among farmers for making agricultural 
implements. 

Quercus fulvescens, (KeUogg), Fulvous Oak, is a decidiious tree, 
grows about thirty feet high. The acorn, when young, is concealed in 
the cup, the two together resembling a little wheel ; the former, when 
mature, is an inch and a half long, and projects considerably beyond 
the cup. The wood is tougher than most of the oaks of California. 
Banks of Canoe creek. 

Quercus Kelloggii, (Newb.), Kellogg's Oak. — Is a large deciduous 
tree, found only in California. Its leaves are deeply sinuate, with 
three principal lobes on each side, terminating in several acute points. 
It bears fruit only in alternate years, or at least most abundantly every 
other year. An idea prevails that the acorns give to swine a disease 
of the kidneys. Hills about San Francisco and Fort Eeading. 

Q. Vaccinifolia, the Huckleberry-leafed Oak, is a shrub from foui- 



FLOEA. 513 

to six feet high, •wliich grows on the mountains in the northern part of 
the State. Its leaves in size and. form resemble those of the huckle- 
berry ; the acorn is of the size and shape of a small hazel nut. 

Castanea Chrysophylla, (Dougl.,) Golden-leafed Chestnut, or the 
Western Chijiquapin. — On the Oakland hills this species is from three 
to six feet high ; blooms early in July, like the Eastern Castanea vesca, 
and bears perfect fruit, edible and palatable. About Mendocino City 
it is a large tree, averaging from fifty to one hundred and twenty-five 
feet in height, and from two to three feet in diameter. On the Oak- 
land hills it grows only on the outcropping of a white friable slate, 
destitute of all vegetable remains. On the Mendocino plains it grows 
on a cemented gravel, upon which the water rests for some months 
after the rainy season. The supply of an serial moisture during the 
dry season is in favor of the Oakland hills, judging by the lichenose 
vegetation of the two localities. 

Q. hindsii, (Benth), California White Oak, or Long Acorned Oak. — 
This is the characteristic oak of California; seldom reaches a greater 
height than sixty feet, and in its expansive branches is often wider than 
it is high — measuring sometimes one hundred and twenty-five feet from 
side to side. This tree furnishes no straight timber, and the wood is 
so soft and brittle as to be of little use except for burning. The acorns 
are large, sometimes two and a half inches long and formerly consti- 
tuted the chief article of food of the Californian Indians. 

Q. Lohaia, (Nees.), Burr Oak. — -The most common and largest Oak 
of California; found in all the valleys of the interior; never outside. 
It is a large and beautiful tree, this being the Oak, with its pectdiar 
drooping branches, which imparts such a picturesque charm to the 
landscapes of California. It is specially noted for its long acorns, 
usually occurring in pairs. This oak presents about the longest trunk 
of all California ioliaceous trees. The acorn of this species is also a 
favorite article of food with the aborigiual races. The wood ranks next 
to that of the Q. DouglassU. 

Q. Douglasii, (Hook.), Pale Oak, Anderson Valley. — The general 
aspect and habit of this tree resemble very much those of Quercus 
lobata, with which it grows in the low flat portion of Anderson Valley. 
Its branchlets, however, are short, rigid and erect, while those of the 
Querciis lobata are most drooping. In the autumn, when laden with, 
fruit, it presents a striking difi'ereuce by having its rather pale acorns- 
aggregated and clustered at the extremities of the branchlets. At a 
distance it strongly resembles a full-grown apple tree. It increases, 
rapidly in number in Anderson Valley, from south to north, outnum- 
33 



614 THE NATUEAL -WEALTH OF aULIFOENIA. 

bering almost every other oak at the lower end of the valley. Its wood 
ranks next to that of the Q. Garryana. 

The three species last above mentioned, belonging to the section of 
White Oaks, are sufficiently unlike in external appearance to be dis- 
tinguished at a distance — the farmer readily detecting the difference by 
the unequal qualities of the wood. 

Q. Sonomeiisis, (Benth.), Black Oak. — Found at San Diego, Ander- 
son Valley, Auburn, eastern and northern hill-sides in the Coast 
ilanges. It also occupies the more easterly situated flats, among the 
redwoods. Seldom found in the valleys; when occurring there they 
occupy that portion adjacent to the hill-sides, where there is generally 
a gi-avelly soil. In the fall it sheds its leaves, which become buff 
colored, before any other of the deciduous oaks. Wood is of a poor 
quality, being used only for fuel. 

Q. densiflora, (Hook.), Chestnut Oak. — ^Along the Coast Eange in- 
creases towards the north, from Santa Cruz to Mendocino City; occurs 
only in or near the redwoods. This tree attains a considerable height 
in dense woods, ^nd is then but sparingly branched; leaves and acorna 
rather abundant; the wood is coarse-grained, wet and spongy when first 
cut, and hence, like the redwood, is by some termed Water Oak. The 
bark is very rich in tannin, and is extensively used for the curing of 
hides. The wood is extremely perishable. 

Q. Chrysolejpis, (Liebm.), Drooping Live Oak. — The most rare of all 
our oaks; it bears acorns but seldom and sparingly; found near Clover- 
dale, in Auburn Valley, and near Forest Hill; thirty to forty feet high, 
with a rather smooth whitish bark, and mostly long, slender, drooping 
branches — evergreen. The tree being rare, and occupying moist slopes 
along the gulches, is not often cut down. 

CEDAKS. 

Libocedrus decurrem, (Torr.), the California White Cedar. — ^This 
noble and hardy evergreen is reported on the Klamath mountains at five 
thousand feet elevation, and also on Scott river, in sandy soils, growing 
from forty to one hundred and forty feet high, and from five to seven 
feet in diameter. It is found also at Forest Hill, forming quite exten- 
sive forests there ; Bancheria creek, Mendocino county ; east of Salinas 
river, Monterey county ; and east of San Diego. As the peculiar form 
of this tree is little known, it may be stated that the cones are very 
small, oblong oval, the feathery scales in ojDposite pairs, face to 
face — ^a few small abortive ones at the base ; leaves awl-j)ointed — little 



FLOEA. 515 

scales, in opposite pairs, running down the twigs — as tlie specific name 
implies. The generic name signifies " incense cedar, " on account of 
the fragrant odor it emits when burned. 

Cup-essus fragrans, the Fragrant Cedar. — ^This is found along the 
northern coast of the State. It is a large tree and produces a white, 
clear lumber, valuable for furniture, and inside work of houses. The 
wood has a strong, lasting, and not unpleasant odor. 

Cupressus Lawsoniana, Lawson's Cedar. — ^This is a tree of little value. 

Cupressus macrocarpa, (Hartn.), Monterey Cypress. — ^This is found at 
Cypress Point, Monterey — its principal locality; Tamalpais, at a height 
two thousand seven hundred feet ; Mendocino City, and southeast of 
Clear Lake. This species seems to be very variable. At Cj-press Point 
there is an extensive grove, containing mostly large trees of great 
beauty, and perfection ; average height, from forty to sixty feet — 
circumference, nine to ten feet. At this point these trees are almost 
daily wrapped in a dense fog. Their branches are very compactly 
lapped, retaining the moisture to such an extent that the thick clusters 
of cones are quite mouldy. Between the cones and these little branch- 
lets, a great deal of rubbish settles, which is often dripping wet. It is 
undoubtedly owing to this fact that so many seeds of this species col- 
lected there prove abortive. 

FIES. 

JJbies Douglasii, (Lindl.) Ked Fir, or Douglass Spruce. — ^This is, 
as remarked by Dr. Newberry, one of the grandest of the group of 
giants that form the forests of the "West. This tree is generally of large 
size, attaining a height often of three hundred feet, and a diameter of 
ten feet. Wood strong, but coarse and uneaven in grain — the layers of 
each year's growth being soft on one side, and very hard on the other. 
The timber is much used for rough work in houses, and in ship-build- 
ing. The tree grows in deep forests on the Sierra Nevada and Cascade 
mountains, from 35° to 49°, and near the coast, north of 39°. 

Picea, or Abies Bracteata,' (Don.), Leafy-coated Silver Fir, Santa 
Lucia Fir. — First discovered by Douglass on the mountains of the Col- 
umbia river ; in Upper California, on the Santa Lucia mountains, at 
an elevation of about thr^e thousand feet above the level of the sea. 
Leaves solitary, furrowed, alternate ; bright, lively green above — two 
white sdvery lines below. The branches are in whorls, slender and 
spreading — the lower ones drooping. Trinik very slender and perfectly 
straight ; commonly clothed to the ground, although often naked on the 
lower third ; two or three feet in diameter ; one hundred and twenty 



516 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OP CAXIFOENIA. 

feet liigh. This tree produces a rosin used by the Catholic priests as 
incense. 

Abies Williamsomi, (Newb.), Yellow Fir, or Williamson's Spruce. — 
This tree bears a close resemblance to the Eed Fir, and the two trees 
are usually found in company with each other. 

Abies ITenziesii, (Dougl.), Black Fir. — Smaller, and of little value. 

Picea grandis, (Dougl.), White Fir, or Western Balsam Fir. — This 
Fir attains a height of one hundred and fifty feet, and a diameter of 
seven feet. The bark of the young trees contains numerous cysts full 
of the resinous fluid called the " balsam of fir." 

MISCELLAlfEOUS TBEES. 

Torreya Califwnica, (Torr.), California Nutmeg. — Found in the coast 
mountains near the bay of San Francisco; paper mill, Marin county; 
Ukiah, where there is quite a group ; Mendocino City and Forest Hill. 
This graceful and beautiful evergeen gi-ows from fifty to seventy-five 
feet high. The fruit is like a nutmeg in size and shape, but it has a 
disagreeable terebinthine taste, and is never used as a condiment; 
wood valuable. 

Taxus brevifolia, (Nutt.), California Tew Tree. — This handsome 
tree is found at Devil's Canon, near Forest Hill;, twenty to thirty feet 
high, with extremely slender and drooping branches; dispersed but 
plentiful ; wood valuable. 

Oreodajphne Cali/ornica, (Nees.), California Laurel, or Bay. — Beauti- 
ful evergreen ; very common in the coast valleys, where it grows to a 
height of fifty feet, with a trunk sometimes thirty inches in diameter. 
Leaves dark green, lustrous, four inches long, one inch wide, sharp at 
both ends, with smooth edges ; foliage dense. The wood is gi-ayish in 
color, very hard, durable, difficult to split, and bears a very high 
polish; used extensively as veneer; wood and leaves have an aromatic 
odor resembling Bay Bum ; used as a condiment ; odor causes some 
persons dizziness and headache. 

Arctostojohylos Glauca, (Lindl.), Manzanlta. — Is a dense claret-colored 
shrub, growing as high as twelve feet, and nearly as broad as it is 
high, in the coast valleys, and in the Sierra Nevada, up near to 
the limit of perpetual snow; wood dense, ha^-d, and dark red in color; 
bears a pinkish white blossom in clusters, which are replaced by 
round red berries about half an inch in diameter, of a pleasant, 
acidulous taste, being often eaten by the Indians and grizzly bears. 
The name means "little apple, " from the Spanish, Manza. The wood 
is used for the manufacture of smoking pipes, etc. 



FLOKA. 517 

Arbutus Meiiziesii, (Pursli.), Madrona. — ^This eTergreen, one of tlie 
most striking trees of the California forest, acquires sometimes a 
height of fifty feet ; diameter two feet ; grows open, somewhat like 
the maple ; leaves lustrous, bright green, oval in shape, three inchea 
long, pea-green underneath, and dark-skinned above ; bark of a bright 
red — smooth, and peels off at regular seasons. The new bark is of a 
pea-gi"een ; wood very hard, and employed to some extent in the arts, 
especially for making the wooden stirrups commonly used in this State. 
The tree bears a bright red berry, in clusters of which the birds are 
found. 

^sculus Californica, (Nutt.), the Calif ornian Horse-Chestnut, or 
Buckeye. — ^Abimdant in the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and coast val- 
leys ; a low-spreading tree, or shrub ; grows about rocky ledges, in 
ravines, and on the banks of streams ; rarely exceeds fifteen feet in 
height ; has a hemispherical shape, very dense foliage, rising from the 
ground in a globular form ; five leaves grow together on one stem ; is 
among the first to open of the deciduous trees of California. This 
tree bears heavy clusters of fragrant blossoms from early spring till 
late in the summer. The fruit is large and abundant, and is still used 
as an article of food by such California Indians as depend upon wild 
fraits and game for their subsistence. 

SHRUBS AND PLANTS. 

Among the various trees and shrubs found in California, is the 
Coeanothus, commonly called Wild, or California Lilac, of which there 
are many species. It is a beautiful evergreen shrub, growing about ten 
feet high ; has a dense foliage, produces a multitude of little twigs, and 
may be trimmed into almost any shape. On these trees is found the 
California silk-worm (Saturnia Californica). 

Mhus toxicodendron, the Poison Oak, grows abundantly in the Sacra- 
mento basin and along the coast. If it can attach itself to an oak tree, 
it becomes a parasite vine, and attains a thickness, though very rarely, 
of four inches in the trunk, and climbs to a height of forty feet. To 
some persons the touch of the leaf is poisonous, causing an irritating 
eruption of the skin ; its effect is sometimes felt even by passing to 
the leeward of the bush on a windy day, or going through the smoke of 
a fire in which it is burning. 

The Willow and Cottonwood of California differ little in appear- 
ance from those of the Mississippi valley. 

Mhamnus Furschianus, D. C, Pursh's Alder, Buckthorn, is found 



518 THE NATUBAL WEALTH OF CALITOENU.. 

growing at Eureka, to a height of from thirty to forty feet, and about 
one foot in diameter. The wood is of a bright, beautiful yellow color, 
like boxwood, or fustic. The timber is said to be firm, straight-grained 
and fine for cabinet makers, taking a remarkably fine polish. 

Alnus Oregona, (Nutt.), Oregon Alder.- — The cognomen alder is asso- 
ciated in the public mind with some sort of bush or shrub ; but the 
species of this coast, designated as Oregon Alder, is a handsome, up- 
right tree, from two to four feet in diameter, and from forty to eighty 
feet high. This tree is distributed chiefly throughout middle and 
northern California and Oregon, growing always along the banks of 
living streams. The wood does not split readily, as the woven fibers 
render it tough. It is neither hard nor very durable, but takes a 
smooth, delicate polish ; makes good gun-powder charcoal, the bark 
being used for tanning. In times of scarcity the leaves afford good 
fodder for sheep. 

Berheris Herbosa, (Pursh.), Mahonia glumaccea, Barberry, or False 
Oregon Grape. — A low sub-shrub, found in piney woods along the 
coast, northward into Oregon. Berries deep-blue, in clusters somewhat 
resembling frost-gi-apes, hence the name ; flavor strongly acid, but 
eatable, and used for making pies, tarts, etc. 

Ephedra, Joint Fir, Tar-weed. — Found on the river bars in the 
interior ; used as a tea for medicinal purposes ; has a long, slender 
pointed leaf, resembling that of the pine. 

The Wild Cherry and Plum of California grow on bushes, the fruit 
resembling the cultivated, except that it is smaller and of inferior 
flavor, 

Leiaisia rediviva, White Lewisia ; Indian name, S^oatulum. — Boot 
large; fusiform; outer portion dingy — inner snowy white and farinaceous 
beautiful white flowers closing up early in the afternoon; roots eaten 
by Indians; abound in concentrated nutriment — a single ounce of the 
dried sufficing for a meal ; found in the State of Nevada — scarlet 
variety in Tulare county, California; possesses gi'eat prospective value 
as an edible root, since it could, no doubt, be easily grown in almost 
any soil, and would greatly improve in size and flavor with cultivation. 

Aetata riibra, Bed Baneberry. — Stem two to three feet high ; sends 
up in the spring one or more large compound leaves ; flowers in April 
and May ; oblong, egg-shaped, shining red berries ; ripen in July 
and August ; both root and berries poisonous ; reputed medicinal. 

Sarracenia jmrpurea. Pitcher Plant. — ^Found a few miles south of 
Mt. Shasta, along the marshy banks of a small creek; flower-stem two 
to four feet high; flowers pale-purple, two inches across; bloom in 



FLOEA. 519 

May ; leaves contorted, and about tHree feet long ; flowers pitcher- 
shaped, the California species differing from those elsewhere in having 
the opening on the under side ; hence, it contains less water — only such 
moisture as it gathers from evaporation or its own secretions. The 
throat of the orifice exudes a sweetish substance attractive to flies and 
other insects, which having entered it are unable to escape, owing to 
the inside of the flower being set with slender hairs pointing down- 
wards, like the wires in a mouse-trap. In this manner the flower 
becomes often half filled with the foetid accumulations of these decay- 
ing insects. It is considered both a preventive and sovereign cure for 
small pox, the Indians having the greatest confidence in its virtues as 
such. It is considered a valuable addition to the Materia Medica. 

Arnica mollis, Soft Arnica.- — Found along mountain rivulets and 
ravines; in the redwood lands, and along the coast. Plant from two to 
three feet high, pale green color, clothed with soft, fine glutinous hair; 
has a bitterish taste, resembling that of the dandelion root — but 
more balsamic and biting ; exhales an odor slightly like that of the 
apple blossom. Abounds in strychnine, and is, therefore, useful in all 
diseases where that substance is indicated. The tincture is also used 
for bruises, sprains,, etc. Though its salts, when extracted, are a 
deadly poison, rabbits and other wild animals feed on it greedily, and 
with impunity. 

Silene Scoulari, the Catchfly. — Plant from two to three feet high, 
riowers — light lively red above, paler beneath. Stalk, except lower 
part, covered with velvety, viscid glandular hairs, to which flies and 
other insects adhere when lighting upon them — ^whence the name. 
Leaves — five to eight inches long, and one inch and a quarter wide. 

lAnum decurr&ns, and L. trisepalum, California Flaxworts. — There 
are several species of wild flax in California, two or three of which are 
found growing on the hills about San Francisco. The most common 
kind, the L. Califorrmum, is an anmial herb, about one foot in height, 
much branched, with few leaves below ; flowers, whitish, or slightly 
pink-tinged ; found in Sacramento valley, back of Oakland, and in many 
other places. Several bales of this plant were collected near Marysville 
a few years ago, and sent to San Francisco under the supposition that 
it was "canchalagua," the popular fever and ague remedy, with which 
it really does possess many properties in common. One species of this 
wild flax bears large blue flowers ; another, yellow flowers in May and 
June. 

Conyza Saliciflora, WiUow-leaf Flea-bane. — ^Abounds in salt and 



520 THE NATURAL WEALTH OP CALIEOENIA. 

fresh water raarslies, and in shallow upland ponds ; perennial ; ever- 
green — blooming from September to April ; from six to ten feet high, 
resembling a willow at a distance. Leaves — lancelate ; seeds — rough 
and silky ; plant and leaves, when bruised, emit an unpleasant odor, 
something like a mixture of camphor and bitter-weed. It is employed 
to make flea powders, also useful for disxDersing gnats — Whence the 
name. 

HierocJdoa fragrans, fragrant, variable Grass. — ^Found on banks of 
Paper Mill Creek, Marin county, growing in tufts ; blooming about 
first of April, (Bolander) ; also grows on old logs, and in forks of low 
trees ; grass two to three feet high ; slightly rough ; roots perennial, 
creeping ; leaves six to fourteen inches long, one quarter to three quar- 
ters inch wide, long pointed, rough, and bright green color ; is used 
in this country for scenting clothes ; in some parts of Europe is strewn 
before the church-doors on festival days. 

Marrah. — Two species in California, one also on Cerros Island, 
coast of Lower California ; purgative and tonic — used in early settle- 
ment of the State as a substitute for quinine. 

Bahmus. — Shrub four to six feet high ; wood hard and fine gi-ained. 
Native Californians extracted from it an alkaline salt, much used as a 
tonic. Grows in barren, stony gi-ounds. 

Barcodes Sanguinea, California Snow-Plant. — Pound growing near 
the edges of, and even in the snow, along the sides of the Sierra. 
Specimens found by KeUogg, opposite Sitka. Is a parasite, growing 
from decayed wood on the soil ; abounds with gallic acid. 

Chlorogalum pomeridianum, (Kunth.), the Soap Plant of California — 
Amole. — The bulbous root contains a large quantity of saponine, and 
when rubbed in water makes a lather like soap, and is good for remov- 
ing dirt. It was extensively used by the Indians and Spanish Cali- 
fornians previous to the American conquest. The Amole has a stalk 
four or five feet high, from which branches about eighteen inches long 
spring out. The branches are covered with buds, which open in the 
night, beginning at the root of the boughs, about four inches of a 
branch opening at a time. The next ni^ht the buds of another four 
inches open, and so on. Is found from the upper Sacramento vaUey to 
Monterey. 

Strawberries, Blackberries, Currants, Piaspberries, and Salmon- 
berries are all indigenous, and in a few localities abundant, though 
inferior in size, and the most of them also in flavor. 



521 



Wliile the grasses of California are numerous in variety, and the 
most of them valuable for pasturage, few are well adapted for making 
hay; wherefore, it may yet become necessary to import foreign varieties 
for meeting this want, provided such can be found suited to our peculiar 
climate. It may be easy to find grasses adapted to those portions of 
the State situated within the foggy regions along the coast, especially 
west of the redwoods. But to find those that will survive the long dry 
summers in the interior valleys, and on the foot-hills, will be difficult, 
if not impracticable. 

Averta faiwx, (Linn.), the Wild Oat. — Among the indigenous mitri- 
tious grasses, this is the best yet found for making fodder, save the 
cereals sown expressly for the purpose. The Wild Oat, in the year 1835, 
was found only south of the Bay of San Francisco; but about that time, 
when the whites began to cross frequently from the southern to the 
northern side of the bay, this grain being sown in a natural way by 
horses and cattle, spread rapidly over the Sacramento valley and 
the coast region, its range now being very extensive. It grows luxuri- 
antly, surpassing in some localities the cultivated grain both in height, 
size and abundance of stalks. 

Lately the Wild Oat has been eaten down so closely by cattle, 
that in many places it has been killed out, and is fast disappearing 
in California on account of the country having been overstocked. 
This grain is propagated not by the roots, but by the seeds, many of 
which fall into cracks in the earth, opening in every direction during 
the dry season, where they lie in safety until the rains come, when the 
ground closes up and the grain sprouts. The position of these cracks 
of one year may often be traced the next season by the stalks of the 
grain. The Wild Oat grows both on the hills and plains. The berry 
is so much shrunken that it is never threshed like other grain. 

Atropis Californica, (Manro), Squirrel Grass. — "Comes in after the 
Wild Oats have become exterminated by close feeding. Foliage of no 
value," (Prof. Brewer). Very common throughout the State; perennial; 
March and April. 

Quite late in the season (July and August) the dry hiUs are covered 
with another species of grass, the Gastridium Australia, (Beauv.), or 3£l- 
ium lencligencm, (Linn.) San Jose, in November. This has not before 
been noticed as a North Americ'a plant. Steudel states that it has 
been found in Chili. It is one of those few annual gregarious grasses 
that cover our hills. Many consider it an introduced species, but its 
general distribution over the State, its character, with the fact that it 



522 THE NATURAL 'WEALTH OF CALITOENIA. 

is a native of tlie countries of the Mediterranean (witli "wliich we have 
so many plants in common, especially of the lower orders), favor the 
presumption of its being an indigenous plant. Indefinite opinion 
regarding its value. 

On the Oakland hills, and in San Francisco, on north hill-sider,, 
and in swamps, a species of coarse salt grass is found, Calamar/ros^ls 
alentica, (Trin.), forming large tufts ; leaves very long and wide ; gen- 
erally breaking off a little above the sheaths. During winter, when 
feed is scarce, it is eaten by cattle. June ; perennial. 

The Aira danthonioides (Trin, ), is found in moist meadows, forming 
often a large bulk of the grass. Oakland. In some localities it occurs 
sparingly ; common in the Russian River valley ; yields but little hay. 
April ; annual. 

Arrhenatherum avenaceum, (Beauv.), Oat Grass. — Observed in a 
cultivated field at Mendocino City, where it had been sown with 
Holcus lancdus, both grasses looking remarkably well. In Germany it 
is known under the name of " French rag grass." The roots are stolo- 
niferous; perennial, and spread rapidly ; the culms attain a height of 
from three to five feet ; leaves plentiful and large. It yields a good 
deal of hay in dry, fertile soils. 

Foa prcdensis, (Linn.), Green Meadow Grass. — Meadows at Oak- 
land, sparingly ; roots stoloniferous ; perennial ; April. Thrives best 
on rather dry meadows. 

On drifting sand-hills west of San Francisco, and near Bolinas Bay, 
grows a low, beautiful, dioecious perennial grass, Brizopyrum Douglasii, 
(Hook.), with extremely long runners, adapted to confining the loose 
sand and preventing it drifting further inland AprU. As a fodder 
grass, useless. 

Another species of Brizopyrum spicatum, (Hook.), Spike Grass, 
grows in the salt marshes near the bay of San Francisco, and upon 
saline soils in the interior. Useless for agi-icultural purposes. AprU. 

In the wet and swampy places near San Francisco, in AprU, we find 
the Glyceria pauciflora, (Presl.), also seemingly useless. 

At Oakland, Santa Rosa valley, Ukiah, and in wet meadows, groAvs 
a handsome and tender species of grass, of which horses and cattle are 
fond, Lophochlcena Calif or nica, (Nees.) Is not capable of resisting heavy 
winds when grown alone. Mixed with other grasses, however, it woidd 
do most excellent. This is probably the only uncontested indigenous 
grass of California, deserving especial attention. Gregarious in man- 
ner of growth ; annual — ^April. 

The Kceleria Crislaia, (Pers.)— Readily eaten by cattle, though not 



FLORA. 523 

the best of fodder grasses. Perennial — April. Found on dry hDls — • 
Oakland, San Francisco, Cloverdale. 

Festuca Scabrella, (Torr.), Buncli-grass. — North hillsides and lightly 
shaded woods — the 'less shaded, the larger the tufts grow. Blades 
long, and break off just above the sheaths. During the winter cattle 
are fond of it, eating off the tufts as closely as possible. Very abund- 
ant along the shady hill sides of the Coast Eange. April — ^perennial. 

Festuca ovina, (Linn.), Sheep's Fescue Grass. — Dispersed sparingly. 
Found on Oakland hills. Gives but a small bulk, but forms a nutri- 
tious food. April — perennial. 

Fesiuca praiensis, (Hends.), Meadow Fescue Grass. — ^This grass 
yields a large bulk of hay of superior quality ; thrives well in diy and 
wet meadows, if the soil is fertile. Found at Tomales Bay. April — 
perennial 

Lolium perenne, (Linn.), Eay, or Eye Grass. — Found always near 
dwellings, quite sparingly. April, May — perennial. 

Lolium tremulentum, (Linn.), Bearded Darnel. — ^Very common among 
grain; found at Oakland, and in other parts of the State. Grains of this 
grass are considered to be noxious, and poisonous to men and beasts. 
Haller affirms that this species of lolium not only produces intoxication, 
as its specific name implies, but that if baked into bread or fermented in 
ale, its administration produces headache, vertigo, vomiting, lethargy, 
drunkenness, and difficulty of speech — causing a trembling of the 
tongue, and even fatal effects. By the Chinese laws, for this plant is 
found both in China and Japan, it is forbidden to be used in fermented 
liquors. According to "Withering, horses are killed by it, and dogs are 
particularly subject to its influences, when mixed in small quantities 
with their food. It is, however, said to fatten chickens and hogs. 

Hordeum pratensee, (Huds.), Wild Barley. — Quite common in many 
meadows ; in some it makes up a considerable portion of the bulk of 
grass growing. April, May. 

Hardeum murinum, (Linn.), Wall Barley. — ^For roads and lots; found 
at Spring valley; Mission Dolores. If allowed to insinuate itself into 
meadows it injures the hay and lessens the value of the crops. Its 
strong beards (arms) hurt the mouths of horses. 

Among the second species of nutritious herbs indigenous to Cali- 
fornia, and valuable to our herdsmen, is the AMlerilla, Erodium cicu- 
iarium, (L'Herit). It is succulent, sweet, hardy, bearing clusters of 
spikes or pins an inch and a half long. These spikes have given it the 
name of Pin Grass; and the resemblance of its leaves to the geranium 
has suggested the name of "Wild Geranium." It has a large root. 



524 THE NATtTEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENLV.. 

whicli it sends deep into the ground, tlius enabling it to resist tlie 
drought, wliile above the surface it puts forth a dense mass of stalks 
and leaves, spreading sometimes several feet in every direction. Cattle 
prefer it to every other indigenous herb of the State. 

California possesses also several species of clover, especially the 
White California Clover, having a large yellowish-white bloom ; grows 
very large, sometimes two feet high, in moist, favorable situations ; 
while in dry places it will also mature its seeds without rising more 
than two or three inches above the ground. It is very sweet, and is 
often eaten by the Indians, who like it both raw and boiled. Cattle 
also are extremely fond of it. 

The "Burr Clover, " so named from a spherical burr, about a quarter 
of an inch in diameter, which it bears in clusters of three. It is found 
in all the settled parts of the State. Cattle do not like it when green, 
but after it dries the burrs fall upon the ground and are picked up 
by the cattle. 

Phaca Nuiialii, (Tor. and Gray), the Indian Pea, or Pop-pea, called 
sometimes Bladder-pea, or Kattle-weed, a cause of serious injury to 
wool. In close cropped fields, where horses and cattle are pinched 
for hunger, it is sometimes eaten, and is apt to prove fatal. This plant 
is a pest of high dry pastures, those presumed to be best adapted for 
sheep grazing. The symptoms are a peculiar infatuation, or intoxica- 
tion, under the effects of which the animal becomes stupid, and finally 
pines away and dies. 

The variety and abundance of wild flowers in California are large, 
each month having its special growth. In the valleys of the coast 
mountains is found the Ye)-ba huena, Spanish for "good herb," a creep- 
ing vine, bearing some resemblance in its leaves and vine to the wild 
strawberry. It has a strong perfume, between peppermint and cam- 
phor, aud possesses valuable medicinal properties. 

ErythrcBa Miiilihenhergii, (Griesb.), " Canchalagua. " — ^Is a native of 
California; grows plentifully on the low grounds bordering Suisun Bay, 
for which high medicinal virtues are claimed; the flowers are rose-red, 
numerous and very pretty, in April and May. 

Daucus pusillus, (Michn.), the " Terba de la vibora, " (Spanish for 
rattlesnake). — ^This plant resembles somewhat the "Wild Carrot, and has 
some reputation among the native Calif ornians as a remedy for the bite 
of venomous serpents, but its efficacy is very doubtful. 

Of the properties and practical uses of the Flora Medica of Cal- 
ifornia but little is yet kno^vn, and it might be well for our physicians 



FLOBA. 525 

and pharmaoTitists to make more careful examination into this depart- 
ment of botanical science. 

riiOWEEIKG PIiANTS AND SHETJBa. 

These are wide spread and numerous in CaEfomia, the purely 
native all dififeriag from tlie same species in other countries. Several 
varieties of the wild rose grow here, none of which have correspond- 
ing types elsewhere. A number of species, identical with those of 
foreign lands, are found growing wild, and apparently indigenous in 
this State, which were originally, no doubt, introduced from abroad. 
So numerous are these flowers in their season, as to form a marked 
feature, not only in the botany, but also in the landscape scenery of 
California. In the spring of the year, the time for most of them to 
bloom, they cover not only the plains and foot-hills, but grow in many 
places to the very tops of the mountains. The forests are nearly everv- 
where filled with them, and even the arid prairies and deserts are often 
adorned by their presence. The different classes and genera do not 
usually intermix, but grow segregated in patches, some of which cover 
acres, and sometimes even square miles of space. Nothing can bo 
more gorgeous than these vast fields of wild flowers, when arrived at 
full perfection. In the months of April and May, the whole country 
decked with its floral jewelry, set in the deep-hued verdure, presents 
a picture not easily found outside of California. But it is a noticeable 
feature of the flowers of this coast, that while they possess remarkable 
elegance of form, as well as variety and brilliancy of color, they are as 
a general thing deficient in odor. A few of them possess this property 
in a high degree, the cceanotlms, and some other classes, filling the air 
when in bloom with their fragrance. How far, if at all, cultivation 
will aid in developing in them the odoriferous property, has not been 
fully established by practical tests, though it will probably tend to 
supply this defect, at least in some cases. That this lack of odor is, 
however, inherent in the plant and not the result of soil, climate, or 
other accident, is shoAvn by the fact that imported flowers grown here 
do not loose the perfume natural to them elsewhere. 

Among the more beautiful and fragrant flowers found in California, 
the Lily and Syringa family are conspicuous; some of the latter form- 
ing large trees; which, when in bloom, are so completely enveloped 
with cone-like clusters as to suggest the presence of small white clouds 
resting on the verge of the horizon. These flowers, emiting the pleas- 
ant odor peculiar to their kind, fill the air for a long way around with 
the most delicious perfume; and although the wild flowers of California 



526 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALTTOENLV. 

are so generally inodorous, the atmosphere, owing to their incredible 
numbers, and the fact that a few are highly fragrant, is fairly oppressed 
with the rich aroma thrown off by them in the spring and early summer. 

CBTPTOGAMIA — FLOWEKIiESS PLANTS. 

This class is noticeable for its numbers and variety; already over 
one hundred species of mosses having been described. Some of these 
mosses, drooping from the forest trees, add much to the beauty and 
picturesqueness of the scenery in many of the interior valleys of the 
State. Any reference to these more simple and lowly products of the 
vegetable world is apt to suggest in the popular mind the idea of 
inutility and worthlessness ; yet, many individuals of this class attain 
great size, such as the ferns and sea-weeds, the former where humidity, 
heat and shade are present to favor their growth, sometimes attaining 
a height of forty feet or more; while the latter, especially on the north- 
em coast, often grow to a prodigious length. In the harbor of Victoria, 
and in the bays around the island of Vancouver, the Algae often reach a 
length of a hundred feet or more, covering the bottom so completely 
as to hide it from sight, and swaying in the most graceful manner with 
the tide. 

Polyporiis, Fungi or Mush-rooms. — The largest species found in 
California is the "Touchwood, or Hard Tinder," of a semi-circular 
shape, between one and two feet across, and from six to eight inches 
long; found generally on the trunk of the Laurel Tree. The common 
small species, with variegated, concentric rings (P. Versicolor), is used 
to lure insects for examination with the microscope. We find also, 
generally in meadows and after a rainy night, large quantities of the 
Agaricus Compestris, or "Edible Mushroom." As mushrooms vary in 
quality with climate, meteoric conditions, soils, etc., the safest way is 
to eat only those raised in gardens. 

Liclieiis. — The barks of most of our trees are covered with several 
varieties of lichens, characteristic of the species, the Evernia Vulpina, 
(Ach.), being found on the bark of our mammoth trees. 

Among the parasitic fungi we find the white and black Mildew, 
(Puccinia and Antennaria), which ruins wheat fields in the north, and 
orange orchards in the south. Rust, or red mildew, ( Uredo ruhigo), v^hich, 
however, is not so injurious as some others. Smut, ( Uredo segetum). 
Birnt, ( Uredo caries), where the grain looks well, but is a mass of black 
sporidia when crushed. The ergot of grasses, but chiefly of rye, better 
known as ' ' spurred rye, " is poisonous in its effects. 



FLORA. 



527 



CATALOGUE OF THE NATIVE TREES OF CALIFOBNIA. 



Botanical 17ame. 



Sequoia— „ „. _^ . 

Gigantea, (Endl.) Syn.: Wellingtoma 
Gigantea,{Lina.); Sequoia Welling- 
tonia, (Seem.); Sequoia Giganteaj 
(Terr.); TaxodiumGiganteum,{Kel. 
logg&Behr.) 

Sempervirens,(Lamb). Syn. : Taxodium 
Sempervirens, (Lamb); Abies He- 
ligiosa, (Schlecht'a Chamys.) 

Brevifolia, (Nutt.) -. 

Califomica, (Terr.); MyTistica,( Hook.) 

Laurina, (Walp.);Bliu8Laurina, (J^utt.) 
Olneta Tesota, (Gray.) 

PAIiKlNSONIA— 

MicrophyUa, (Torr.) 

Aculeata. (Linn.) 

Ceecidium Flobidium, (Bentli.) 

Adenostoma — 

Pasciculata, (Hook.) 

Spaxsif olia, (Torr.) 

Dai^ea— 

Spinosa, (Gray.) « 

Styphonia — 

IntegrifoUa, (Nutt.) 

Serrata 

Acacia— 

Greggii, (Gray.) 

Constricta, (Benth.) 

Cuspidata, (ScMgcM.) 

Famesiana, (WiUd); Cavena, (Hook.) 

ECHINOCACTUS — 

Cylindraceus 

"Wislizeni 

DiOSPYROS — 

Texana, {Scheele.) 

Chilopsis— 

Linearis, (D. C.) 

TUCCA — 

Baccata, (Torr.) 

Draconis, (Linn.); Ver. Arboresccns. 
Aloifolia 

SAPINDACE(E — 

^sculus Califomica, (Nutt.) 

Labeyana Mexicana, (Moric.) 

PiSTACEA MeXICANA, (H. B. K.) | 

Oitiroa DiPETALA, (Hook.) 

Alnus— 

Oregana, (Nutt.) 

Viridis, (D. C.) 

PopuLirs — 

Trichocarpa, (Torr.) 

Monolifera, (Ait.) 

Tremoloides, (Miclix.) 

Fbaxinus Oregana, (Nutt.) 

ACBOSTAPHYLOS GiATJCUs — (Lindl.) — 

Arbutus Menziesii— (Pursi. ) , 

Oeeodaphne CiVLiFOHNicA, (Nees.) — 

C.\>STAITEA CHKYSOPHYLLA. (DoUgl.) 

Quehcus — 

Acuticlens, (Torr.) , 

Agrifolia, (Nees; Nutt.) , 

FulTescens, (Kellogg.) , 

Kelloggii, (Newb.) 

Hindflii, (Bentli.) , 

Densiflora, (Hook,) , 

Garryana, (Hook.) , 

Douglassii, (Hook.) , 

Lobata, (Nees.) , 

Sonomensis, (Bentli.) 

Cbrysolepis, (Liebm.) 

Vaccinifolia 

Thuya — 

Plicata, (Nees.) 

Gigantca, (Nutt.) 

PL.i.TAKU3 EaCEMOSA, (Nutt.) 



Popular Name. 



Redwood; Calif or'a Giant; 
Calif. Mammoth Tree ; 
California Big Tree. 



California Eedwood. , 

Western Tew 

Wild Nutmeg 



Iron wood 

Greenwood 

Small leaved.. 

Prickly 

Green Acacia — 



Persimmon . 
Japote , 



Fruit-bearing Yucca . 



Buckeye; Cal. Chestnut . 

Hediondo 

Mexican Pistachia 

Flowering Ash 



Hairy-pod Poplar 

Cottonwood 

Quaking Aspen 

Oregon Ash , 

Manzenita 

Madrona 

California Laurel 

"Western Chinquapin. 



Sharptoothed Oak , 

Scrub or Evergreen Oak 

Fulvous Oak 

KcUogg's Oak 

Long-acomed Oak 

Chestnut Oak 

White Oak 

Pale Oak 

Burr Oak 

Black Oak 

Drooping Live Oak 

Huckleberry Oak 



ArborvitfE 

Oregon ^^'hito Cedar. 
Mexican Sycamore — 



Coast; Latitude 36=" to 40.° 

Downieville. 

Latitude 39", CaltComia. 



Colorado river. 



Burro mountains. 
San Pedro, (tributary Gila.) 
San Pedro river. 
Laredo to Pecos river. 



San Pedro river. 



Southern California. 

West of the Colorado river. 

Sierra Nevada. 

Interior of the State. 
Gulf of California. 
Texas to San Diego, CaL 
California. 

Northern California. 
Cajon Pass. 

Los Angeles. 
Sacramento river. 
Sierra Nevada. 
Upper Sacramento valley. 
California moimtains. 
Sacramento valley, 
Oakland; near San Gabriel. 
Mendocino Oity. 

San Luis Hey. 

Sacramento valley. 

Soiithern coast. 

Coast of Cal.; San Francisco, 

Slopes of foothills. 

Santa Cruz mountains. 

Santa Rosa valley. 

Clear Lake. 

Valleys of California. 

San Diego; Auburn. 

Forest Hill. 

Northern California. 

San Diego mountains. 
San Dic'fto mountiiiiiB. 
Feather river. 



528 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENLV. 

Catadoghe op Native Tkees of Cai^ifoenia — Continued. 



Botanical Name. 



Popular Name. 



PiOEA GsAiTOis, (DougL) 

Douglasii, fLindl.) 

Monzieijii, (Dougl.) 

Taxifolia, (Lamb.) 

AmabiliB, (Dougl.) 

Bracheata 

"WiUiiiraRonii, (Newb.) 

LiBOCEDKtja Decureens, (Torr.) . 
Jtjmzpertjs — 

OccidentaliB 

Pachyploea, (Torr.) 

Totragona, (Schlecth,.) 

Cdpeessus — 

MacTOcarpa, (Hartn.) , 

Lawsoniana 

Goveniana, (Gordon.) 

Fragrans 

PiNUS — 

Lambertiana, (Dougl.) 

Sabiniana, (Dougl.) 

Ponderosa, (Dougl.) 

Insiguis, (Dougl.) 

TubtTCulata, (Don.) 

Muricftta, (Don.) 

Contorta, (Dougl.; Loud.) 

Murryaua, (Balf .) 

Coulfceri 

Torreyana, (Parry.) 

Defiexa, (Torr.) , 

Floxilis, (James.) , 

MonophyUa, (Torr.) , 

Llavenana, (Scbeid.) , 

Balfourlana 

JlTGLANB KUPRESTIS, (Eugelm.).... 

Salix— 

Brachystachys, (Benth.) 

Labiolepis, (Bentti.) 

COENUS — 

Pubescens, (Nutt.) 

Nuttallii, (Aud.) 

SesBilis, (Torr.) 

PTEUS RlYTJl-AJtlS 

Photinia Aebutifolia, (Lindl.)... 
Frahgijla CAJCJFOimiCA, (Gray.) .. 
Ceecis OcciDESTALis, (Torr.) 

C^ANOTHUe — 

ThjTsifioms, (Escb.) 

Torediacus, (Hook.) 

Cunpatufi, (Jsutt.) 

Integcrrimxis, (Hook.) 

ProsUtus, (Bentb.) 

Cebasus— 

Ilicifolia, (Nutt.) 

Demissa, (Nutt.) 

PnuiTus— 

Subcordata, (Bentb.) 

Vms, (Lmn.) — 

Californica, (Bentb.) 

Macrophyllnra, (Pursb.) 

Circinatum, (Pureb.) 

Negu>'do— 

Califomicum, (H. Kr.) 



Western Balsam Fir . 



Douglas* Spruce 

Black Fir 

Wbite Spruce 

Oregon Bilver Fir 

Santa Lucia Fir 

Williamson's Spruce. . . 
California WTiite Cedar. 



TJtab Cedar 

Thick-barked J.. 
Sijuare-leaved J.. 



Long-fruit Cypress. . 
California Cypress. . 



Sugar Pine 

Sabine's Pine... 

Yellow Pine 

Monterey Pine.. 



Twisted Pino 

Miuray '8 Pine 

Coulter's Pine 

Torrey's Pine 

Claw Scaled Pine 

Koclcy Mt. "RTiite Pine., 

One-leaved Nut Pine 

Eocky White Pine 



Walnut. 



Green Cornel 

Oregon Dogwood 

California Dogwood., 
Oregon Crab Apple . . 



CoeanotbuB ; Wild Lilac . . 



Wooly-leaved Cherry . 
Shrubby Cberry 



California Plum 

California Grapevine.. 



Wbite Maple 

Kound-leaved; Vine Maplt 



California Box Elder. . 



Sonora, California. 

Sierra Nevada. 

SieiTa Nevada. 

San Francisco. 

CaUfomia. 

Santa Lucia mountains. 

Nortbem CaJifomia, 

California. 
Monterey. 
San Felipe. 

Monterey to San Diego. 

Monterey, 

San Diego mountains. 

Northern coast. 

Northern California. 
Mt.Diablo: cast of Sen Diego. 
Eussian Eivcr valley. 
Carmclo valley; Monterey. 
Forest Hill; Santa Cruz. 
Monterey; Mendocino City. 
Tomales bay; Mendocino. 
Siskiyou mountains. 
Santa Lucia mountains. 
San Diego. 
Cajon Pass. 

San Francisco mts, N. M, 
Carson's Pass, Cal. 
San Diego mountains. 
Scott's valley. 
Los AngeleB. 



Duffield's ranch; San Diego. 
DulHcld's ranch; Monterey. 
Grass Valley. 
Santa Eosa creek. 
Monterey; San Diego. 
California. 
Sacramento river. 

San Francisco, 
Grass VaUcy. 
Cocomongo. 

Los Angeles. 
Grass Valley. 



Tuba river. 

Fort Beading ; San Diego. 



30 California. 



CHAPTEU IX. 

MINING AND METALLURGICAL PEOCESSES. 

Gold— Placer Mining— The GhaUo-w Placers— KiTer Mining— Tbe Deep Placers— Tunnel 
Mining— Hydraulic Mining — Blue Gravel — The Great Blue Lead— WMte Cement — 
Quartz, or Vein Mining — Mining Operations — Milling MaoMnery and Processes— The 
Grass Valley System of Amalgamation — Amalgamation in Battery — The Mariposa 
Process — Concentration — Plattner's Chlorination Process. 

Althougli California is by no means wanting in tlie variety of its 
metallic ores, yet the number of different metals which, either in the 
native state, or mineralized as ores, have hitherto been made the 
object of successful and profitable exploitation, is comparatively small, 
comprising only gold, mercury, copper, and silver. Platinum and 
iridosmine are also incidentally obtained in small quantities, associ- 
ated with placer gold. Deposits of lead ore have been found, but as 
yet are undeveloped. Iron ores of very superior quality have been 
discovered at several localities in great quantity. Some of these 
deposits are in many respects favorably situated, and although their 
distance from market, and the high prices of labor, transportation, etc.,, 
have so far prevented their being advantageously worked, yet, witb 
additional railroad facilities, and the introduction of cheaper labor, 
this useful metal will no doubt shortly be produced in California in 
ample supply for all home demands. 

Among other metallic ores known to exist within the State, and 
which possess a greater or less prospective commercial value, are zinc, 
chromium, manganese, nickel, cobalt, arsenic, antimony, and tin. 

Of the non-metallic mineral products already contributing to the 
wealth of the State, the coal of the Monte Diablo mines is of primary 
importance. Next to this is the borax of Clear Lake, to which may 
be added native sulphur, and common salt, obtained in considerable 
quantities — the latter, as yet, chiefly from the evaporation of sea water, 
although extensive deposits of it exist in the solid form at various 
34 



530 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

localities in the interior of tlie State. Asphaltum also, a product of 
the southern counties, is used extensively for paving and roofing pur- 
poses. Many other mineral substances occurring in California -will 
become of value for various manufacturing and commercial purposes in 
the future, some of them even now being turned to profitable account. 
Though silver has been included in the list of its metallic products, 
California can by no means be called a silver producing State — the 
greater part of that shipped from San Francisco being furnished by 
the mines of the State of Nevada. True, silver mines are not uncom- 
mon in the southeastern part of the State, and some of them contain 
very rich ores. This is especially the case in Alpine, Mono and Inyo 
counties, lying east of the Sierras. Many attempts have been made to 
mine and work these* ores; but the veins are usually small, and mining 
operations in these localities, under present conditions, can only be 
conducted at a heavy expense. Besides, these ores, though often rich, 
are generally among the more complex kinds, requiring peculiar treat- 
ment. Practical operations having, however, been mostly attempted 
by men possessing little or no acquaintance with metallurgy, have gen- 
erally resulted in failure. Under more skillful management these mines 
could probably be worked with large and steady profits. The copper 
ores found in that part of the State bordering on Arizona are usually 
argentiferous, sometimes very highly so ; and from these and other 
sources, California will ultimately, no doubt, become a large jjroducer 
of silver. But at present most of the silver actually obtained in this 
State is derived by separation from the gold, which always contains 
more or less of it as an alloy — the amount procured from this source 
not being large. Thus, it will be seen, sUver is not a leading, but 
rather an incidental product of California mining ; and the metallurgi- 
cal treatment of its ores, though of vital importance in the adjoining 
State of Nevada, is of little practical moment in California. 

GOLD. 

Among the mineral products of California, gold is incomparably the 
most important metal. Eaj)id and immense as has been the development 
of this branch of mining in California, it is yet, in view of future results, 
scarcely more than barely entered upon, the repositories of this form of 
wealth remaining comparatively intact. Gold, with rare exceptions, is 
found in the native or metallic state. It is never, however, perfectly 
pure, being always alloyed with more or less silver, and sometimes also 
with small quantities of platinum, copper, iron, mercury, palladium, 
iridium, rhodium, etc. It also occurs in a mineralized condition in 



MINISrG AND METALLUEGICAL PEOCESSES. 531 

connection with other metals combined witli tellurium. The minerals, 
sylvanite and nagyagite, are examples of this mode of occurrence; and 
other compounds of the same class, whose characteristics are as yet 
but imperfectly known, have been found at Carson Hill, in Calaveras 
county, at the Eawhide Eanch Mine in Tuolumne county, and at a 
few other localities in the State. But these telluric compounds of gold, 
though rich in this precious metal, are of rare occurrence, and possess 
no general interest. It has been a matter of doubt with some, whether 
the gold present in aiiriferous pyrites, mispickel, etc. , existed in the 
metallic state or mineralized in combination with sulphur. The pre- 
valent opinion among the best chemists being that in these ores the 
gold is always in the metallic state, though its mechanical subdivision 
is in this case almost chemically minute — it will here be assumed 
that such is the fact. The metallurgy of gold is thus entirely con- 
fined to the separation or extraction chiefly, though not entirely, by 
mechanical means, of the native metal from the earthy deTjris or the 
rocky gangue, which may accompany or contain it. 

In the consideration of native gold, our attention is first drawn to 
the fact that it occurs extensively in two distinct and well characterized 
conditions. It is found either in the solid rock, usually in veins, whose 
gangue is almost universally quartz, accompanied by various metallic 
oxides and sulphurets ; or else it is found in alluvial deposits, in the 
form of minute scales, pellets, coarser grains, or larger pieces, always 
more or less water worn, and mixed with the sand and gravelly de'bris 
of all sorts of rocks, whose degradation. and comminution have been 
the slow work of ages preceding the advent of man. To the latter 
class of deposits the general name of placers has been given, and from 
these two prominent modes of occurrence have arisen two distinct 
modes of mining, viz : placer, and quartz, or vein mining. 

PLACER MINING. 

The placers themselves may be again subdivided into two prominent 
classes, the deep and the shallow ; or, speaking generally, the ancient 
and the modem placers. In California, these deposits, particularly 
the shallow placers, are also frequently styled "diggings," and these 
have agaiQ been further characterized according to their topographical 
position, as river, gulch, bar, flat, bench, and hill diggings ; while the 
deeper placers have been called hydraulic diggings, tunnel diggings, 
etc., according to their situation, and the means adopted for their 
exploitation. At first operations were almost entirely confined to the 



532 THE NATUEAIi -WEALTH OF CULITOENU. 

shallow or surface diggings, ■wliicli owe their origin in great measure 
to the denudation and degradation, by mountain streams, of the older 
and deeper detrital formations — enormous quantities of the earthy and 
lighter materials having been washed away, while the gold has been 
left in a concentrated form and in positions readily accessible to the 
miner. Many of these shallow diggings, exceedingly rich when first 
discovered, having long since become either exhausted or greatly 
impoverished, are now almost wholly abandoned to the Chinese. 

The methods and implements employed in placer mining, and by 
means of which such immense quantities of the precious metal were 
once extracted, seem insignificant compared with those now in use. 
In all placer mining the gold is obtained by washing the auriferous 
gi-avel, the sand and earthy matter being carried off by a current of 
water, while the gold, owing to its vastly greater specific gi-avity, 
remains behind, and can then be collected by itself in the metallic 
state or amalgamated by means of mercury. 

THE SHALLOW PLACERS. 

The principal implements employed in shallow placer mining are 
the pick and shovel, horn spoon, pan, cradle or rocker, long torn, and 
the sluice. The horn spoon is made by a lateral section cut from the 
horn of an ox, which, being scraped thin, forms a sort of curved sjioon, 
from one to two inches in depth, two to three inches in breadth, and 
six to ten inches long. This spoon is used exclusively for "prospect- 
ing purposes " — that is, for testing the richness of auriferous gravel or 
pulverized rock, by washing in it small quantities at a time. In its 
use some skill is required, especially when, as is often the case, the 
gold dust is very fine, to save and exhibit as nearly as possible the 
whole of the precious metal present. This spoon holds at most 
but two or three pounds of earth, and it might seem that tests so 
rudely made could be of little value. It is found, however, to answer 
this purpose better than might be expected ; and it is surprizing how 
closely an experienced prospector will estimate the probable yield of 
rock or gravel, after having made a sufficient number of trials with it 
to enable him to approximate an average of the mass. 

The pan in present use is usually stam^jed from thin sheet iron, 
possessing the advantages of lightness and strength, while at the same 
time it is not attacked by the mercury often used. In shape and size, 
this implement resembles an ordinary circular dairy pan, with a twelve 
or fourteen inch bottom, the chief difference consisting in its having a 
more ilaruig form. In using this pan, it is first filled with the aurifer- 



MINING AND METALLURGICAL PEOCESSES. 533 

ous earth, which is then taken to a stream, puddle, or tub of water 
near at hand, for washing. Being submerged, if the material be clayey 
in texture, it is worked over with the hands till it becomes disinteg- 
rated, and then the washing commences. One side of the pan being 
held a little higher than the other, by a peculiar circular motion of 
the hands a revolving current is produced within it, which carries 
away the lighter portions over its top, while the heavier matters 
remain behind. In this way the earthy particles are gradually washed 
away, the pebbles being removed by the hand, until nothing is left 
but the gold, either entirely clean, or mixed with a small quantity of 
heavy sand. The residue thus obtained is either saved until more has 
been accumulated, and then, if necessary, carefully washed as clean as 
possible, or it is amalgamated with a little mercury. With the pan, as 
Avell as the horn spoon, it requires practice and skill to wash rapidly 
and well. In the earlier days of mining the operation of washing for 
gold was mostly performed by the pan. It rapidly gave place, how- 
over, to the cradle, the long tom, and the sluice, and is now very rarely 
used, except for mere prospecting purposes. It is also indispensable 
in the "cleaning up" of sluices, and also about quartz mills, as a 
means of washing and saving small portions of amalgam. 

The cradle and the long tom, as successors of the pan, were im- 
provements on the latter as means for extracting gold — each in its day 
being the most efficient implement known for that purpose. Both, 
however, were superseded by the sluice, and can now be rarely seen, 
except where used occasionally by the Chinese, for which reason a 
particular description of them is here omitted. 

The sluice, in its various forms, is now the apparatus generally 
employed for separating the gold from the worthless matters with 
which it is mixed, in both the deep and the shallow placers. In form 
and dimensions it varies to suit the work for which it is intended, 
being in some cases but a few feet long, while in others, especially in 
hydraulic mining, its length reaches several thousand feet. The sluice 
is essentially a long, slightly inclined trough, through which a rapid 
stream of w^ter flows, the bottom being provided with a suitable 
arrangement for catching and retaining the heavier particles, while the 
lighter are carried forward and discharged with the water at its lower 
end. In its ordinary form as applied to shallow placers, it consists of 
a series of wooden troughs open at the ends, each being from ten to 
twelve inches deep, from fifteen to twenty inches wide, and twelve feet 
long. They are constructed of rough pine boards, from an inch to an 
inch and a half thick, and are made three or four inches narrower at 



534 THE NATURAL WEALTH OP CALIPOKNIA. 

one end, so as to fit into each other, and thus form a continuous sluice 
of any desired length. By this arrangement they can be rapidly put 
together, and as readily taken down and removed. The sluice is set to 
a uniform grade, so that the fall in each twelve feet, or the length of a 
box, is from ten to eighteen inches, according to the character and 
quantity of the material to be washed. If the fall in twelve feet be ten 
inches the sluice is said to have a ten-inch grade. Across the bottom 
of each box is nailed a number of cleats called riffles, intended to catch 
and retain the gold and amalgam. As these riffles and the bottom of the 
sluice itself would soon be worn out if left unprotected, by the stones 
and gravel passing over them, a set of false riffles, consisting of a frame 
of slats, is placed longitudinally in each box, presenting the necessary 
cavities for catching and holding the gold, while its surface is such as 
to present the least possible resistance to the stones and gravel passing 
over it. 

The most comnion style of riffle in sluices for shallow placers, is 
formed of strips of plank two or three inches thick, from three to six 
inches wide, and about five feet six inches long, being nearly half the 
length of a single box. These strips are placed on edge, an inch or two 
aj^art, side by side, longitudinally along the bottom of the box, being 
properly wedged to keep them in place. There is thus formed a series 
of narrow rectangular depressions, having a depth equal to the width 
of the strips, and which, though quickly filled with sand when the 
sluicing is commenced, still present a sufficient number of cavities and 
inequalities to retain the particles of gold, while the pebbles are carried 
smoothly forward by the current of water. Wlien, however, as often 
happens, the gravel to be washed contains large quantities of stones, 
the wear upon the riffles, even with the best arrangement, is severe, 
necessitating frequent renewal. To meet this emergency, instead of 
the riffles described, the sluice is paved with blocks of wood cut cross- 
wise the grain, and placed with the fibres in a vertical position on its 
bottom, narrow spaces being left between the blocks which fill with sand 
and serve to retain the gold. These block riffles are not only durable, 
but very efficient in saving the amalgam and gold. If the placer gold 
dust were always course the riffle would be a complete and all-sufficient 
means of saving it. But, since this is not the case, the grains being of 
aU sizes, from nuggets several pounds in weight down to an almost impal- 
pable powder, so fine that when dry it will readily float upon the surface 
of the water; or if suspended in it, be carried along by the gentlest 
current ; the use of mercury in the sluice becomes necessary to arrest 
and save these minute particles, which even this agent, with its stron^' 



MINING mo METAXLTJEGICAii PEOCESSES. 535 

affinity for gold, is not always able to accomplish, in as mneh as many 
of them, borne along by the water, do not reach the bottom where the 
mercury lies while traversing the length of the longest sluices. 

Frequently, also, a portion of the gold is covered by a .thin but 
closely adherent pellicle of oxide of iron, which prevents it amalgam- 
ating readily, although it may come in actual contact with the mercury. 
Many contrivances have been resorted to, with more or less success, 
to effect an amalgamation of this "rusty gold," so called, with the 
quicksilver, of which the "under current sluice," described in connec- 
tion with hydraulic mining, is, perhaps, the most important. Amal- 
gamated copper plates are also frequently used near the lower end, or 
"tail" of the sluice. But in spite of all efforts to save it, there is still 
a heavy loss of the finest gold, a result that can only be wholly pre- 
vented by the application of more effective means than any yet devel- 
oped in practice, or, perhaps, known to science. 

When the sluice is finished and the riffles are in place, the work 
of washing commences. A stream of water, graduated by its capacity 
and the character of the dirt to be washed, being turned into it, while 
the auriferous earth is shoveled in, unless where hydraulic pressure is 
employed. For the ordinary sluice, the quantity of water required 
varies with the conditions as above stated — ^from twelve to twenty 
inches being about the usual amount, which is called a sluice-head.* 
As soon as the depressions between the riffles have become fairly fiUed 
with sand and gravel, a quantity of mercury is sprinkled along the 
sluice near its head, whence a portion of it gradually finds its way 
down through the lower boxes, additional quantities being often scat- 
tered at intervals along it. 

The finer the gold the more mercury is required ; the latter, when 
the dust is coarse, not being introduced at the head of the sluice, but 
at some distance below, so as to amalgamate only the finer particles of 
gold. The coarser the gold, the heavier also may be the grade of the 
sluice and the stronger the current of water employed. But the limits 
of ten and eighteen inches, already mentioned for the grade, are rarely 
passed in either direction. While the washing is going on, the sluice 
needs but little attention, except what is required to prevent it from 
choking. Where, however, stones of the size of a man's fist, or larger, 

*Tlie miner's " inch, of water " is the quantity discharged through a vertical opening 
of one square inch cross section under a mean pressure, or head, which varies in different 
parts of the State from five to nine inches. The inch of water is, therefore, somewhat 
indefinite, fluctuating in volume from 80 to 110 cubic feet per hour, the average value 
throughout the State not being far from 100 cnblc feet per hour. 



536 THE NATUEAL 'WEALTH OF aVLEFOEXIA. 

are numerous, it is customary to throw them out witli a fork, after 
they have rolled far enough to be thoroughly cleansed of any adhering 
mud which might contain gold, instead of letting them run the whole 
length of the sluice to no purpose except to wear it out. 

The washing once begun, is carried on sometimes without interrup- 
tion day and night, more commonly, however, only during the day, 
for an indefinite period, which, whether long or short, is called "a run." 
These runs may consist of a few days only, or may extend over several 
weeks or even months. The operation of collecting the gold, mercury, 
and amalgam, which have remained in the bottom of the sluice, is 
called "cleaning up." When it is decided to clean up, no more dirt 
is thrown into the sluice. The water, however, is permitted to run 
iintil it passes off clear at the lower end, when it is shut off. The riffles 
commencing at the head of the sluice are then taken up for a distance 
of thirty or forty feet, when the sandy residue is washed down from 
this portion, passing through the sluice, while the gold and mercury are 
caught in front of the first remaining riffle, from which they are care- 
fully removed with a little scoop iind placed in a pan. The riffles are 
then put down again, the miner proceeding through the entire series in 
the same manner. "When all the amalgam is thus collected, it is care- 
fully washed clean in the pan, and then strained through buckskin or 
canvass, which allows the liquid mercury to pass, while the solid amal- 
gam is retained (o be afterwards retorted and melted. The sti-ained 
and well squeezed amalgam usually yields from thirty-five to forty per 
cent, of its weight of retorted gold. The retorting consists simply in 
heating the amalgam to such an extent as to volatilize and exjDel the 
mercury and thus separate it from the gold which remains behind. But 
in order to protect the operator from the poisonous mercurial vapors, 
as well as to save the mercury and obtain it again in a condition fit for 
further use, this operation must be conducted in an air-tight vessel 
provided with a condensing chamber. The apparatus commonly em- 
ployed for this purpose consists of a cast iron retort, with a cover; 
first, well luted, and then screwed down to its place and held fast by 
means of a clamp screw. From the center of the cover rises a small 
iron pipe, which, bending, passes over to the condenser. The latter 
generally consists simply of a vessel containing cold water, beneath 
the surface of which, however, the pipe is not allowed to dip, its end 
being wrapped with one or two thickness of canvass so as to form a 
short hose reaching into the water. The reason for this precaution is, 
that if the temperature of the retort were suffered to fall low enough to 
produce a condensation of the vapors within, the water would then rise 



MTSING AKD METAILUEGICAL PEOCESSES. 537 

tlirougli the pipe, and entering the retort, would there be suddenly 
converted into steam, rendering a dangerous explosion imminent. In 
the performance of this process the retort should be heated very gradu- 
ally, the temperature not being allowed to rise higher than a dark red 
heat, though this should be maintained long enough to effect a com- 
plete removal of the mercury. The gold thus obtained is in a very 
porous and spongy condition, requiring to be melted and ran into bars 
before it is fit for sale and transportation. 

BIVEK MTSriNG. 

By this expression is not meant the working of the bars accumulated 
along the mountain streams in times of freshets, and afterwards laid 
bare by low stages of water, enabling them to be conveniently worked; 
for this, though in one sense a branch of river mining, has nevertheless 
its own appropriate name, such deposits being termed "bar diggings." 
The term "river mining," in the sense here used, comprises a more 
extensive class of operations, involving the damming up and the turn- 
ing into a new channel, often for considerable distances, of the whole 
volume of the waters of a river, thus laying bare its entire bed for 
working. Sometimes the new channel is a canal dug in the ground 
along the sides of the river ; but oftener, especially where this is 
impracticable, a large and costly flume is constructed for the purpose. 
These works, as well as all others requiring great outlay, are generally 
executed by an association of the miners who do the work themselves, 
and furnish each according to his ability the additional capital required, 
receiving afterwards a proportionate share of the profits, if such ensue. 
When the preliminary work has been completed, and the waters are 
turned into their new channel^ the bed of the river is staked out into 
small and separate claims, which are then worked, each by its owner 
according to circumstances, with the cradle, the long tom, or the sluice. 

The operations of river mining are necessarily such as often involve 
immense expense, whUe they are always conducted at a heavy risk ; 
for, besides the possibilities of a breakage of the dam, and the con- 
sequent flooding and destruction of the works, and the certainty that 
this will occur unless everything is removed from the bed of the stream 
at the commencement of the rainy season, there are the chances that 
when the chief expense has been already incurred, and the waters 
are turned aside, their channel wiU not be found rich enough in gold 
to repay the cost involved ; and this is a point which can rarely, if ever, 
be thoroughly tested until the work of turning the stream has been 



538 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALEFOENIA. 

accomplislied. But, though the risks of river mining are always heavy, 
and the losses often large, the profits are sometimes enormous — cases 
being frequent where the bed of a river is found sufficiently rich in the 
precious metal to repay in a short period many times the expense 
involved in laying it dry and working it. 

THE DEEP PLACEKS. 

It is not easy to draw any well defined line of demarcation between 
the deep and shallow placers, though the latter may in a general way be 
designated as those not so deep as to require in their exploitation the 
application of means and methods which are peculiar to deep placer 
mining. The depth thus indicated will vary somewhat with circum- 
stances, but may be assumed in general to be in the neighborhood of 
twelve or fifteen feet. As already stated, the shallow placers are chiefly 
the results of the work of modern streams in the degradation and con- 
centration of the deeper detrital formations, though this is not always 
the case, some of them owing their origin to widely different causes. 
Many of the rich deposits found on the surface or in the cavities of 
the limestone, such for example as those once so famous in the vicinity 
of Columbia and Sonora, Tuolumne county, were certainly not the 
work of modern streams. On the contrary, they are the partial results 
of the immense system of denudation so extensive on the western flanks 
of the Sierra, and which, though it preceded the modern river system, 
was posterior to the accumulation of the gi-eat mass of the deep aurif- 
erous gravel deposit. The rich diggings about Columbia were evidently 
formed by the enormous mass of materials having been swept away, 
while the bottom alone was left in situ, or nearly so, with its golden 
wealth stiU further enriched by concentration from the hundreds of 
feet in depth of auriferous gravel which have disappeared. But while 
the shallow placers are thus seen to vary more or less in their age and 
origin, the deeper are exclusively the work of more ancient causes, 
resulting, as stated in the geological portion of this work, to a great 
extent, from the action of an older and entirely different river system 
from that which now exists. They are often hundreds of feet in depth, 
and are frequently capped with enormous masses of basaltic lava or 
other volcanic materials which have been distributed over them. In 
these, as in all other auriferous placers, the gold is generally found to 
be most concentrated nearest the bottom of the deposit — or, in other 
words, the gravel is richest nearest the bed rock. The latter, as its 
name implies, is the foundation, or bed of solid rock, of whatever kind, 
upon which aui'iferous placers usually rest, and which, besides this. 



MffiriNG AND METALLUBGICAL PROCESSES. 539 

in the case of the deep placers, has often been the bed of an ancient 
stream or river. To reach and -work the material lying nearest the bed 
rock, is, therefore, the chief object in all deep placer mining. This is 
accomplished in different ways, according to the nature of the gronnd, 
and the depth and situation of the deposit. Sometimes vertical shafts 
are sunk through the gravel to the bed rock, and from the bottoms of 
these, tunnels are driven in various directions, being continued till the 
pay dirt is reached. These tunnels are supported overhead by timber- 
ing, if necessary. The pciy dirt thus obtained is hoisted through the 
shaft to the surface, and then washed in the sluices, or, if it be very 
rich and water is scarce, with the cradle or pan. This is apt to be an 
expensive mode of mining, the labor of hoisting the earth through the 
shaft being considerable, while the pumping, usually required to free 
the works from water, is even more costly. It is, therefore, never 
resorted to except in situations which permit of no other means of 
reaching the bed rock, and where the deposit is known or justly sup- 
posed to be rich. Prospecting shafts, however, are often sunk for the 
purpose of examining the ground, and ascertaining, so far as practi- 
cable, its probable richness before more expensive works are entered 
upon. The two principal methods by which the deep placers are 
worked, are tunnel and hydraulic mining, both conducted upon an 
extensive scale. 

TUNNEL MINING. 

This style of mining is resorted to where the auriferous gravel is deep, 
and overlaid by a mass of basaltic rock or volcanic scoria, tufa, and 
other material, to such a depth as to render it impossible to remove 
the superincumbent mass, the adjacent valleys being at the same time 
low enough to permit the bed of the ancient channel to be reached by 
tunnels driven in from their sides. Tunnels have been extensively 
employed to reach the deposits under the basaltic Table Mountains of 
Tuolumne, Sierra, and other counties, which cover the auriferous 
gravel to the depth of a thousand feet or more. By this system the 
bed of the ancient river is reached by long tunnels driven from the 
adjoining valleys through what is termed the rim rock, being that 
which forms the borders of the ancient channel, and which rises some- 
times to the height of one hundred and fifty feet or more above the 
middle of the chaimel. The tunnel is intended to strike beneath the 
ancient river bed, or at least sufficiently low to be upon a level with it, 
and is driven with just sufficient inclination to drain the works as they 
proceed. The channel being reached, drifts are run along it, the 



540 THE NATDBAL WEALTH OF CALIFOKNIA. 

ground divicled up, and the auriferous gravel, commonly termed cement, 
from its beiag firmly compacted together, is removed and conveyed in 
cars to the mouth of the tunnel. Here it is broken up, the disinteg- 
ration being assisted by jets of water thrown from a hose upon it, after 
which it is washed in sluices. Extensive timbering is often required to 
support the roof as the work of excavation proceeds, pillars of pay dirt 
sometimes being left for this purpose. The thickness of the stratum of 
pay dirt varies from a few inches to sis or seven feet. The length of 
these tunnels ranges from six hundred to fourteen hundred feet, and 
instead of being started below the level of the channel, and driven 
through the bed-rock with such an inclination as to drain the mines, they 
are sometimes started at the top of the rim rock, or even above it, and 
driven with a downward inclination into the hill. In such instances the 
water must be removed by pumping, and the dirt be hoisted or drawn 
out by machinery — some of these tunnels furnishing sufficient water to 
wash the gravel taken out. Occasionally the latter is so firmly cemented 
together as to defy the ordinary means of disintegration and washing 
in a sluice, in which event it is crushed in a mill and worked like 
auriferous quartz. But as this proceeding involves the crushing of the 
pebbles and boulders, generally barren of gold, various contrivances 
have been employed to disintegrate the cement without involving this 
result — the most efficient machine yet devised for this purpose being 
Cox's Cement Mill, which consists of an iron pan six feet in diameter 
and eighteen inches deep, supplied with four iron rakes or stirrers 
bolted to arms attached to a vertical central shaft. This shaft, making 
fifty revolutions in a minute, drives these stirrers with great velocity, 
separating the cement effectually from the boulders and breaking it up 
so finely that it passes readily through the longitudinal openings left 
in the cast iron bottom of the pan. Into the latter a stream of water is 
kept constantly discharging to aid in softening and washing the cement 
after it has been brought to the proper consistence for the action of the 
stirrers. The boulders and larger gravel, after being freed from the 
cement, are discharged through a trap door in the bottom of the pan- 
opened and closed by levers. A charge for this pan consists of about 
one ton of cement, it being able to work thirty-five tons of ordinary 
material in twelve hours, and forty-five if it is but moderately tenacious 
or hard. The arrangements for economizing labor are such that one 
man can attend it — the cost of this washing operation not bein"- over 
twelve or fifteen cents per ton. "With the aid of this pan the earnings 
of the cement mUls using it have been largely increased; and it is 



MINING AND METALLUEGICAIi PEOCESSES. 541 

believed tliat large quantities of gravel can no-w be crusbed ynth. profit, 
tbat before would not pay for handling. 

HYDRAUIilC MINING. 

Before proceeding to a description of tbe practical operations of 
this mode of mining, it may be well to give some account of tbe char- 
acter of the deposits upon which it is applied.* 

It is shown by numerous well established facts, that at the close of 
the geological epoch just prior to the appearance of man upon the 
globe, the whole of the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains 
were, below a certain horizon, covered by a vast spread of alluvium, 
owing its origin to the action of extensive glaciers, which have left the 
evidence of their former presence everywhere in the higher Sierras. 
These glaciers furnished the transporting power that brought from 
above the fragments, which, by long continued action of running water, 
were worn into the smoothly rounded boulders, gravel and sands form- 
ing the gold-bearing alluvia. The melting of the glaciers as their lower 
stirts reached warmer zones, furnished the water for those ancient 
rivers, the beds of which are now found far above the level of the 
present river system, and whose courses are generally crossed by the 
valleys of our modern streams. This condition of things continued 
long enough to permit the accumulation of beds of gravel — the gold- 
bearing alluvium — to a depth and extent without a parallel elsewhere 
in North America, and as auriferous deposits unequalled elsewhere in 
the world. Of the thickness of this accumulated matter, there is evi- 
dence in numerous places where it has been protected from the action 
of subsequent denudation by a capping of volcanic material, it reach- 
ing here a known thickness of five hundred feet. Usually, however, 
it has been denuded to one half of this thickness, often more, while in 
many places it- has been completely swept away. Subsequent to the 
glacial and alluvial epoch to which the gold-bearing gravels are referred, 
there was a period of intense volcanic activity, the evidence of which 
is seen most conspicuously in the Table mountains, so called, where 
the auriferous deposits are covered by cappings of basalt, forming 
highly characteristic ranges. In other parts of the State, and espe- 
cially in Nevada and Sierra counties, the volcanic outpourings consisted 
of ashes and other materials, since consolidated into heavy beds of 
volcanic mud, mixed with fragments of scoria, tufa, and basalt. 

* In this, aa ■well as in the description of hydraulic mining which follows, the notes of 
Prof. B. Silliman have been freely used. 



542 THE NATUKAL "WEAXTH OP CAUFOBNIA. 

Following the outpouring of the volcanic rocks, there was evidently 
an epoch of very active denudation by running water, which has broken 
up and removed the volcanic cappings, leaving them only here and 
there as landmarks showing the ancient levels, and sweeping away, like- 
wise, vast areas of the old alluvium, and redistributing it as secondary 
or shallow placers at lower levels. This denudation was probably con- 
sequent on the sudden disappearance of the system of glaciers, which 
up to that time crowned the entire range of the Sierras with ice. So 
complete Avas the removal of the ancient gi'avel in some of the southern 
counties that the gold left behind lay upon the naked rock, covered 
only by a few inches of vegetable motdd. 

Before proceeding further it may be expedient to explain certain 
terms and phrases used in this species of mining, which are not gener- 
ally understood out of California. 

"Blue Gravel" is a term employed by hydraulic miners to distin- 
guish in a general way between the upper and poorer and the lower and 
richer portions of the auriferous beds of gravel, which latter are usu- 
ally, though not always, characterized by a peculiarly bluish color. 
This color is due to the reducing power of organic matter, chiefly vege- 
table fiber, acting upon the salts of iron present, which, mainly in the 
form of sulphurets of iron, have become the principal cementing ma- 
terial uniting the gravel and sand into a compact and firm conglomerate, 
so strong as to require the use of gunpowder to prepare it for washing. 
"When exposed to the influence of air and moisttu'e, this blue color dis- 
appears and the mass becomes yellowish and reddish, being often bril- 
liantly colored with various tints of purple and red. It loses at the 
same time a great part of its firmness and often crumbles to powder, 
even the pebbles of a certain kind found in it slacking to a sandy consis- 
tence. The blue color has no necessary connection with the presence 
of gold — gravel being thus colored simply because it has been beyond 
the reach of oxidizing influences. 

"The Great Blue Lead" is a term applied to such deposits of 
cement and gravel as are found to rest in a well defined channel, 
assumed, not without reason, to have been the bed of an ancient 
river. That there were many such rivers is clearly proved by what is 
already known of the topography of this portion of the gold regions. 
There are obvious reasons why, as a rule, the beds of such streams 
should be richer than the general surface beyond their banks. These 
channels when first uncovered are always found well worn by mnning 
water, and filled with cavities and "pot holes," where the currents 
eddied. They vary in width from sixty to foui- hundred feet, being 



MINING AND METALLTOBGICAIi PROCESSES. 543 

occasionally mucli wider, and are sometimes traceable for miles, 
marking the flow of tlie ancient river, the course of wMcli is also often 
indicated bjthe direction of the deeper grooves, being generally north- 
northwest and south-southeast. 

The term ' • White Cement " is given by the miaers in certain locali- 
ties to a zone or stratum of whitish color, but of no considerable 
thickness, which appears to chronicle a pause or interval in the accu- 
mulation of the coarser gravel. The gravel above this plane contains 
less gold than that below, though, owing to its looser texture, it is more 
rapidly washed away. 

With the more or less complete exhaustion of the shallow placers in 
the ravines and river beds, came the necessity of devising a system by 
which the deep placers, like these under consideration, could be econo- 
mically worked. The accomplishment of this object demanded the 
use of a large amount of capital, to be expended in the construction 
of canals and aqueducts to convey water from the mountain lakes and 
streams at a suitable elevation, and in sufficient quantity to command 
the ground to be worked, as well as for the purpose of opening tunnels 
and shafts in the bed rock for the discharge of the gravels — operations 
requiring much labor and skill, and often consuming several years for 
their accomplishment. 

The amount of labor and capital thus demanded called into exist- 
ence, in various parts of the State, canal and ditch companies, the 
associates beiag generally miners, whose limited finances were eked 
out by borrowing money from bankers at rates of interest varying 
from three to five per cent, monthly. 

Experience has demonstrated that the larger the volume of water 
employed in the process of hydraulic mining, the greater the efficiency 
and economy of the operation. The proper application of the power- 
ful mechanical force furnished by large volumes of water under a great 
pressure, was a problem solved satisfactorily only after many abortive 
trials and much experience. This problem involves the following 
conditions : 

1st. The whole mass of auriferous gravel must be removed, what- 
ever its depth, quite down to the "bed rock." 

2d. This must be accomplished by the action of water alone, human 
labor being confined to the application of the water and the prelimi- 
nary preparations it involves, the amount of material to be moved and 
disposed of in every day of ten hours, being from two thousand to 
three thousand cubic yards for each first class operation, involving the 
use of four hundred to six hundred inches of water. 



544 THE NATUBAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENI-V. 

3d. The meclianical disintegration of the compact conglomerate as 
a part of the uninterrupted operation of the whole system. 

4th. The simultaneous saving of gold Trithout interrupting the con- 
tinued flow of water. 

5th. The disposal of the accumulations resulting from the removal 
of such vast quantities of gravel. 

These conditions are in practice met by the following steps :' The 
mining ground being selected, a tunnel is projected from the most 
convenient ravine, so that starting in the bed-rock, on the face of the 
ravine, it shall approach the center of the mass to be moved with a 
grade of from one in twelve to one in thirty-six. The dimensions of 
these tunnels are usually six to eight feet in Avidth by seven feet in 
height, the length varying from a few hundred feet to a mile. For 
driving some of the longer of these works from five to seven years have 
been required, at a cost of from ten to sixty dollars per lineal foot, 
varying with the cost of labor and the character of the rock to be exca- 
vated. The end of the tunnel is designed to be from fifty to one hun- 
dred feet, or perhaps more, beneath the bottom of the gravel, at a point 
where a shaft or incline is sunk through the gravel and bed-rock to 
intersect it. It obviously demands careful engineering to carry out 
works of such magnitude with the accuracy required, and for the Avant 
of sufficient care or skill in this particular, years of costly labor and 
anxious expectation were sometimes spent in the earlier history of 
these enterprises. The timnel once constructed becomes not only an 
avenue for reaching the auriferous deposits, but also a sluice-way, 
through the whole length of which sluice boxes are laid, both to direct 
the stream and save the gold. This sluice is two and a half feet wide, 
with sides high enough to control the stream. The pavement laid 
down within it is usually composed of blocks of wood cut across the 
grain six inches in thickness, and extending from side to side. These 
wooden blocks are frequently made to alternate with sections of cobble 
stone pavement. In the interstices mercury is distributed, two tons or 
more of this metal being required to charge a long sluice. Beyond 
the mouth of the tunnel the sluice boxes are still continued, often for 
many hundred feet, in a zigzag com'se, down the sides of the ravine. 
After leaving the sluice boxes the slum is often run into what are 
termed long tail sluices, through which it flows, still depositing a little 
gold for thousands of feet, when it is finally discharged to find its way 
to the plains below, rendering thick and turbid aU the streams into, 
which it flows ; these accumulated tailings discoloring even the waters 
of San Francisco bay. At each change of direction of the zigzag sluice, 



MINING AOT) METALLUEGICAX PEOCESSES. 545 

and sometimes at other points, the "under current sluice" is usually 
introduced, being constructed and arranged as follows : At the end of 
the last sluice box above the under current, a grating of iron bars is 
placed lengthwise in the bottom of the box, through which a portion of 
the water and finer material falls, upon a series of more gently graded 
sluices below, from two to five times the width of the main sluice. 
These sluices are placed at right angles to the other, and are often 
lined with amalgamated copper plates, and j)rovided with mercurial 
riffles, which, in connection with the gentler current, materially assist 
in saving the finer gold. The great body of the gravel with the large 
boulders meantime go dashing forward, being precipitated in places 
over falls from twenty to fifty feet in height, thus producing by the 
crushing and grinding effect a great disintegrating power. From the 
bottom of this fall the materials are immediately taken up by a series 
of boxes, and being again joined by the stream from the under ciir- 
rent, flow on, the process being repeated, often many times, before the 
bottom of the ravine is reached. 

The water from the canal is brought by side flumes to the head of 
the mining ground with an elevation of from one to two hundred feet 
above the bed-rock, whence it is conveyed to the bottom in iron pipes, 
sometimes sustained by a strong incline of timber. These pipes are 
of sheet iron of adequate strength, riveted at the joints and measure 
from twelve to twenty inches in diameter. They communicate at the 
bottom with a strong prismatic box of cast iron, in the top and sides 
of which are openings for the adaptation of flexible pipes made of a 
very strong fabric of canvas, strengthened by cording, and terminating 
in metallic nozzles of from two and a half to three inches in diameter. 
From these nozzles the streams are directed against the face of the 
gravel to be washed, with immense force. 

The volume of water employed varies with the work to be done • 
though frequently four different streams, each conveying a hundred 
inches or more of water, are brought to bear simultaneously on the 
face of the same bank. Five hundred miners' inches of water, approx- 
imately equal to 53,000 cubic feet per hour, are often discharged against 
the face of the bank, with the great velocity and pressure due to the 
head employed. 

Under the continuous action of this enormous mechanical force, 
aided by the softening power of the water, large sections of the gravelly 
mass are readily broken down and washed away. The debris speedily 
dissolving and disappearing under the force of the torrent, is hurried 
forward in the sluices to the mouth of the shaft, down which it is pre- 
35 



546 THE NATtTEAL WEAXTH OF CALIFOENTA. 

cipitatecl with tlie Avhole volume of water. Boulders weighing hun- 
dreds of pounds, accompanied by masses of the harder cement, are car- 
ried forward, encountering everywhere on their passage, and especially 
in the plunge over the fall, the crushing agencies necessary for their 
disintegration. 

The heavier banks, of eighty feet and upwards, are usually worked 
in two benches; the upper and poorer, being also less firm, is worked 
away with greater rapidity. The lower section is usually much more 
compact — the stratum on the bed-rock being strongly cemented by 
sulphuret of iron and resisting even the full force of the water until it 
has been loosened by powder. For this purpose a tunnel is driven in 
on the bed-rock, from forty to seventy feet from the face of the bank, 
from the inner extremity of which another is extended to some dis- 
tance on each side and at right angles to the first. In this cross tunnel 
is 25laced the charge, consisting of from one hundred to five hundred 
kegs of powder, fired as a single blast. The effect in shattering and 
loosening, in all directions, the heavy mass of conglomerate, is tremen- 
dous — fitting it for the ready and efficient action of the water. 

Sometimes in the softer, upper stratum, a sytem of cross tunnels is 
extended, as practiced in coal mining, leaving blocks, which are then 
washed away; after which the whole mass settles and disintegrates 
easily under the influence of the water. A double set of sluices is 
usually placed in these long tunnels, in order that one set may be 
cleaned iip while the other is in action. 

The process of cleaning up is joerformed at intervals of from twenty 
to forty days, according to the size of the works and the richness of 
the earth. Advantage is taken of this occasion to reverse the j^osition 
of the blocks and stones when they are worn iiTegularly, and to sub- 
stitute new ones for those which are worn out The action of the 
washing upon the blocks is rapid and severe, demanding a complete 
renewal of them once in eight or ten weeks. Some miners prefer a 
pavement consisting entirely of cobble stones, though most of the 
sluices are paved with wooden blocks, with or without alternating sec- 
tions of stones. 

Eude as this method of saving the gold by hydraulic washing may 
appear, experience has sho-\vn that more is saved by it than by any 
other mode yet devised, while its economical advantages are incom- 
parably greater than those of any other. In fact it would be utterly 
impossible to handle such masses of poor material with profit in any 
other manner, or by any other agency than that of water. 

To show the advantages possessed by this system as compared with 



MINING AND METALLUEGICAL PEOCESSES. 547 

those formerly in use, assuming wages to be three dollars per day, the 
cost of handling a cubic yard of auriferous gravel is approximately as 
follows : v/itli the pan, §15 ; with the rocker, $3 75 ; with the long tom, 
$1 ; with the hydraulic process, 15 cts. 

By no other means does man more completely change the face of 
nature than by this process of hydraulic mining. Hills melt away 
and disappear under its influence, every winter's freshets carrying to 
lower and yet lower points portions of the detritus, while whole valleys 
are filled with clean washed boulders of quartz and other rocks. Mean- 
while the Sacramento and its branches, as well as the San Joaquin, 
flow turbid with mud. Bars are formed where none existed before, 
and the hydrography of the bay of San Francisco is changing under 
the influence of the same causes. The desolation which remains after 
the ground, thus washed, is abandoned, is remediless and appalling. 
The rounded surface of the bed rock, torn with picks and strewn with 
immense boulders too large to be removed, shows here and there islands 
of the poorer gravel rising in vertical cliffs with red and blue stains, 
serving to mark the former levels, and filling the mind with astonish- 
ment at the changes, geologic in their nature and extent, which the 
hand of man has wrought. 

QUAETZ, OB VEIF MINING. 

Before proceeding to treat particularly of the means and methods 
employed in the mining and subsequent treatment of auriferous quartz, 
something may be said, in a general way, as to the modes of occur- 
rence of gold in the rocks, and of the more prominent features and 
characteristics of auriferous veins, or "ledges," as they are usually 
styled by the California miner. 

It has been stated in the early part of this chapter, that when gold 
occurs in situ in the rocks, it is usually found in veins of quartz. It 
has also been stated, in the chapter devoted to geology, that the great 
gold-bearing region of the State, viz: the western flanks of the Sierra 
Nevada, is of comparatively recent geological age; that it consists 
almost entirely of slates, varying largely in lithological character, but 
having a remarkable uniformity of strike and dip, the former being, 
with few exceptions, approximately parallel to the central axis of the 
Sierras, while the latter inclines generally at a high angle to the east, 
or towards this central axis. 

The innumerable veins of quartz with which this region is filled, 
do not, in general, form a network cutting each otlier and the strata in 
various directions, and dipping at all imaginable angles, as is com- 



548 TITE NATUK.VL ^T3ALTII OF C.\LirOF.KI.\. 

monly the case in other regions, more piu-ticularly in many of the min- 
eral districts of Europe. On the contrary, the veins here lie parallel 
with the stratification of the slates, being enclosed between the beds, 
vrith which they conform both in strike and dip. There are, however, 
exceptions to this general rule, a vein occasionally cutting the strata 
■vvith a strike and dip, entirely independent of them — these cases, in 
some localities, being rather frequent. 

The gangue of the auriferous veins is almost always quartz. Near 
the surface, the associate minerals are chiefly the oxidized ores of iron, 
copper, lead and zinc ; the sulphurets of these metals, at depths beyond 
the reach of atmospheric influences,' being of general occun-ence: the 
latter are sometimes accompanied by arseniurets of iron, etc., and 
occasionally by rarer combinations, such as the tellurides of Carson Hill 
and other localities. Sometimes the gold in the veins is distributed 
with remarkable uniformity throughout the whole mass of the gangue, 
while in other and more numerous cases the reverse is true. In some 
instances, portions of the foot-wall prove the richest, while in others, 
that next the hanging Avail is the more highly auriferous. 

Often the veins are more or less banded in structure, in which case 
the gold is apt to lie in streaks parallel Avith the banding of the quartz. 
Occasionally it lies mainly in "chimneys," or "chutes," having a pitch 
in the direction of the strike of the vein; and not infrequently there is 
the greatest possible irregularity in its distribution, some portions of 
the vein matter being extremely rich, while others immediately adjacent 
are almost entirely barren. In some spots the gold is coarse, while in 
others it is impalpably fine — much of the rock that pays well to work 
showing no gold whatever to the naked eye. Sometimes the vein-stujBf 
adheres strongly to the walls of the adjoining co\mtry rock; so that the 
former cannot be removed without breaking off much of the latter, 
while, again, the cleavage or parting between the two is perfect and 
clean. Frequently the vein and the country rock are separated by a 
selvage or clay band an inch or two in thickness ; a condition that 
gi-eatly facilitates the removal of the former. Often the walls, as well 
as the surface of the vein, are marked with parallel striae, showing the 
direction of dynamic action, the surface often being not only worn 
smooth, but even beautifully polished by this movement. The gold 
occurs distributed more or less throughout not only the hardest and 
most compact quartz, but also in the more soft and cellular portions 
thereof, it being also present to a greater or less extent in the various 
metallic sulphurets scattered tkrough the veins, particularly in iron 



MINING AND METALLUEGICAL PROCESSES. 549 

and arsenical pyrites where the latter occurs, both of these minerals 
being often extremely rich. 

The gold is not, however, entirely confined to the limits of the 
metalliferous vein ; frequently existing as well in adjacent portions of 
the wall rocks — sometimes to such an extent as to remunerate well the 
cost of extracting and working it. Cases have occurred, as at Carson 
Hill, where the soft slates adjoining the veins, for a foot or more in 
thiclmess, were found to be immensely rich, equalling in this respect 
even the richest portions of the quartz itself. But, although the quartz 
veins are everywhere the chief matrix of gold, they are not its invariable 
accompaniments. Within the past few years this metal has been found 
at certain localities in considerable quantity, distributed throughout 
broad bands or patches of the metamorphic slates, unaccompanied 
either by quartz in notable quantity, or by any distinct and definite 
vein formation. In these cases the rocks are shown to have been highly 
impregnated with metallic sulphurets of various kinds, the most promi- 
nent of which, however, was iron pyrites. The slow decomposition 
and oxidation of these sulphurets, as the result chiefly of atmospheric 
causes, have in many places entirely changed the chemical character 
and consistence of the rocks, replacing many of their original constitu- 
ents by others of a very different kind. By this process, too, the whole 
mass of rock has sometimes been so softened as to set free the particles 
of gold once contained in the sulphurets, leaving the rocks often 
stained with a variety of brilliant colors, due to the metallic oxides and 
salts i-esulting from their decomposition. 

But this subject of the modes of occurrence of gold in situ in the 
rocks, and other questions connected therewith, although exceedingly 
interesting, form too broad a field to permit of further consideration 
here ; therefore, we proceed to notice briefly the principal means and 
methods employed in the mining and subsequent treatment of the ore. 

MINJOiTG OPERATIONS. 

As the extraction of auriferous quartz does not vary materially from 
other vein mining as practiced in different parts of the world, it hardly 
requires a special description in this place. "When the vein is so situ- 
ated that it can be reached, at a considerable depth below its outcrop, 
by means of a tunnel extending nearly horizontally from the hill-side 
or from an adjoining valley, such a tunnel or adit is first driven, drifts 
being afterwards extended from it in each direction along the vein. 
The auriferous quartz above is then stoped out, and conveyed in cars 
through the tunnel to its mouth, and thence to the mill. 



550 THE NATUEAl WEALTn OF CALEFORNIA. 

Where, however, the character of the ground does not admit of this 
mode of exploitation, or where it becomes desirable to reach deeper 
levels tlian can be attained by such a tunnel, shafts are sunk ; either 
vertically, to intersect the vein at a given depth, or in an inclined 
direction from the outcrop with the dip of the vein. Drifts or levels 
are tlien extended at proper depths in each direction from the shaft, 
dividing the ground into a series of vertical "lifts" as they are called, 
the heights of which between the drifts vary from thirty or forty to one 
hundred feet The ore in each " lift " is then stoped out, and fall- 
ing into the drift below, is conveyed to the shaft, through which it is 
hoisted, usually by steam power, to the surface. The machinery and 
gearing used for hoisting, pumping, and handling the ore and waste 
rock, are pretty much the same in kind the world over. For raising 
water, the Cornish pump is, perhaps, more extensively used at present 
than any other. In some instances a compact, double-acting, steam 
force-pump is employed instead, and being placed at the bottom of the 
mine, is fed -with steam brought down in a pipe fi-om the boilers above; 
and which, having done its work, is discharged into an exhaust-pipe, and 
re-conducted to the sui face. The ore is not, as a general thing, sub- 
jected to any further breaking than that incidental to its extraction 
until it reaches the floor of the mill. It usually, however, undergoes 
a kind of rough sorting, whereby such portions as are known to be 
worthless are rejected ; and where the veins vary gi-eatly in richness, 
considerable portions of ore, obviously of a very low grade, are often 
left standing in the mine. Upon reaching the floor of the mill, the 
ore is broken to a size suitable for the stamps, either by hand, or, 
more generally of late, by being passed between the jaws of powerful 
crushers, moved by steam. 

MILLING MACHINERY AND PROCESSES. 

A modern quartz mill for the working of auriferous ores, consists 
of the stamps, with their necessary accompaniments for crushing and 
pulverizing the ore, together with the additional arrangements, of what- 
ever kind, below the stamps for catching and saving the gold thus set 
free from the gangue. 

The stamp is a long, vertical iron stem, moving in guides, and fur- 
nished at the bottom with a heavy iron head. It is lifted vertically by 
machinery, and in falling, crushes by its weight and the momentum it 
acquires, the rock placed in an iron trough beneath. 

The California stamp, in its most recent and approved form, con- 
sists of four distinct parts, viz : the stem, the head, the shoe, and the 



MINING AND METALLTJEGICAL PEOCESSES. 551 

tappet. The stem is a smootli wrouglit-iron cylinder, from two and 
a lialf to three inches in diameter, and generally twelve feet long. 
The ends are turned with a slight conical taper for a few inches, in 
order that they may easily and strongly wedge themselves into the 
corresponding socket in the head, either end being fitted to connect 
with the latter. 

The stamp-head is a cylinder of cast iron, usually eight inches in 
diameter, and from twelve to eighteen inches in length. Each end is 
supplied with a socket, or hole ; the one to receive the stem, and the 
other and larger, the neck of the shoe. Each end of the stamp-head is 
strengthened by a thick band of wrought iron, driven on while hot, 
and shrunk to its place. 

The shoe is a shorter cylinder of cast iron, generally of the same 
diameter as the stamp-head, and from four to six inches thick, being 
so formed that it can be easily attached to or detached from the latter ; 
its removal being necessary when too much worn for further service. 

The stamp is lifted by a cam, usually double armed, though some- 
times sijigle, fixed upon a revolving horizontal shaft, and working close 
by the side of the stem, against the flat under surface of the tappet. 
It is curved in such a way that the horizontal surface of the bottom 
of tlie tappet, at the point of contact between the two, is always tan- 
gent to the face of the cam at any instant during the rise of the stamp. 
The stem is kept in proper position by two guides, six or seven feet 
apart, the one above the other, between which are the cam, shaft, and 
the tappets. A result of this form and arrangement of the stamp is, 
tliat tlie cam, in lifting it, also imparts to it a rotary motion, which, 
continuing while the stamp is falling, increases somewhat by its grind- 
ing tendency the crushing effect of the blow. But the great advantage 
of this rotary motion is, that the constant change of j)osition produces 
a uniform Avear of the shoes and dies, which it would be difficult to 
secure by any other means. 

The weight of the stamp complete varies from five hundred to nine 
hundred pounds, and the height of fall from eight inches to a foot. 
The speed at which they are driven is generally about sixty blows 
each per minute. Each stamp can crush from one to three tons of 
rock in twenty-four hours, according to the fineness of the crushing 
and the character of the rock. 

The number of stamps in a mill varies of course with the amount 
of work to be done, ranging all the way from three or four to sixty or 
more, the average number being about fifteen or twenty. The stamps 
are arranged in what are called "batteries," each battery consisting 



552 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENLV. 

of iouT or five stamps, working together in a separate cast-iron box, or 
mortar, thougli two or three batteries are usually driven by the same 
cam-shaft. 

The mortar is a heavy rectangular cast-iron box in which the stamps 
play and the ore is crushed. Its weight varies according to the num- 
ber and size of the stamps, four or five stamps of ordinary size requir- 
ing one weighing from two thousand to three thousand five hundred 
pounds. Its interior dimensions, at the bottom, are such as to have 
but an inch or two of clear space between the stamp-heads and its sides, 
which are from three to five feet high. There is a longitudinal opening, 
three or four inches wide, in the back side, protected by a yertical 
apron, and running the whole length of the mortar, through which 
the broken ore is fed. In the bottom of the mortar, on the inside, are 
cast cavities for the reception of the dies upon which the stamps fall. 
The dies are also of cast iron, one for each stamp. The lower part of 
the die, which fits into the cavity in the mortar, may be cylindrical or 
rectangular. The iipper portion is cylindrical, projecting from three 
to five inches above the bottom of the mortar, and has generally the 
same diameter as the shoe. In the front side of the mortar, with its 
lower lip at a proper height, from two to four inches above the tops of 
the dies, is the discharge opening, from a foot to twenty inches in 
vertical width, and running the whole length of the mortar. The 
latter rests upon blocks, the best form of which, in ordinary ground, 
consists of sticks of heavy timber, from ten to fourteen feet in length, 
and from two feet to thirty inches square, according to the size of the 
mortar and the weight of the stamps. These blocks are set in couples 
vertically imbedded in the gTound, to a depth of from five to eight feet, 
two of them being used to support a single mortar. Their tops are 
brought as nearly to the same level as possible in setting them, and 
are then planed true and level. And, as it is important that the con- 
tact between the mortar and the blocks should be close and uniform, 
the bottom of the former is also planed true before it leaves the shop. 
The mortar is then placed upon the blocks and strongly bolted to them. 
In the discharge opening already noticed, is fitted the screen-frame, a 
rectangular frame of wood, to which is fastened the screen. The latter 
consists of a strip of sheet iron, perforated with small holes, through 
which the discharge from the batteries takes place. Sometimes wire 
cloth is used for this purpose, but the punched sheet iron screens are 
generally preferred. The size of the holes varies considerably Avith 
the fineness of the crushing required. The punched screen most in 
use, known as No. G, has holes about .027 inch in diameter, and pre- 



jnNXSrG AND METALLUEGICAI, PROCESSES. bOO 

sents about 195 holes to tlie square inch, of surface. A constant stream 
of water is introduced into the battery, which, with the violent agita- 
tion produced by the motion of the stamps, carries the pulverized ore 
through the screens out of the battery as fast as it reaches the requisite 
fineness. The broken ore is usually fed to the batteries by hand, one 
man being able to tend or feed three or four batteries. It might prove 
economical to provide the batteries with a self-feeding arrangement— 
an improvement rarely attempted yet in California, though practiced 
in Australia and Europe. 

The arrangements for extracting and saving the gold from the 
crushed ore, though varying largely in their details, have certain fea- 
tures always in. common; chief among which is the amalgamation of the 
gold by means of mercury. The crushed ore and water, or the "pulp," 
as it is called, is led from the batteries through shallow, descending 
sluices, passing in its way whatever contrivances may be there adopted 
for saving the gold, being finally discharged as " tailings " from the 
lower side of the mill. These sluices are from eight to sixteen inches 
in Avidth, and two or three inches deep, and have an inclination or 
grade dependent on the degree of fineness of the crushing, the quantity 
of pulp they are intended to convey, the means employed for saving 
the gold, etc. There are in general use two prominent modes of amal- 
gamation—the Grass Yalley system, so called from its general use in 
the mills of Grass Valley, and the system of amalgamation in battery. 

THE GEAS^ VALLEY SYSTEM OF AMALGAMATION. 
By this plan no mercury is placed in the batteries, the only portion 
of gold caught there being such as is too coarse to pass the holes of 
the screen. Of this coarse gold there is, however, always a notable 
proportion in the Grass Valley ores. In the practice of this method 
the bottoms of the sluices are covered with coarse woolen blankets, 
woven for the purpose, over which the pulp flows. These blankets are 
spread smoothly, and made to overlap each other in such a way as to 
prevent the ptdp from getting beneath them. As the latter flows over 
them, the heavier particles, which always keep nearest the bottom of 
the shallow stream, are caught in the meshes of the coarse fabric and 
there retained, while the lighter portions pass on with the current. 
But, as the nap of the blankets soon become filled with sand, which, if 
unremoved, would soon impair, and, if long continued, destroy their 
ef&ciencj^, it is necessary to frequently remove and wash them, after 
which they are replaced. For this rea:son the sluices leading from the 



55-1 THE NATLTuVL ^yE.VLTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

batteries are either made double, or three are used for two batteries, 
so that the -pxil]) from either may be turned into the middle sluice, 
while the blankets of its own sluice are being washed — an operation 
that requires to be performed about once every fifteen or twenty 
minutes. For the purpose of washing, the blankets are placed in a 
large tub or vat filled with water, where they are thoroughly rinsed, 
the auriferous sand falling to the bottom. When the blantets have 
been washed and replaced, the pulp is again turned on, and those of 
another sluice are subjected to the same operation. The sluices below 
the blankets are frequently lined Avith amalgamated copper plates, or 
provided with mercurial ritfies, having also in some cases the pulp con- 
veyed over shaking tables, or subjected to other mechanical treatment, 
for saving the finer gold before it is finally discharged. All of these 
contrivances catch some gold, though most of the latter saved below 
the batteries is caught upon the blankets. The blanket washings are 
generally rich in gold, and also in metallic sulphurets, when the latter 
are present in the ore. They are next subjected to amalgamation in 
order to extract the free gold which they contain, and the sulphurets 
are afterwards either suffered to escape with the tailings, or are saved 
and ground with mercury in iron pans, or treated by Plattner's chlor- 
ination process. The amalgamation of the blanket washings is some- 
times effected by grinding the whole at once in pans with mercury, but 
more frequently by passing them through Attwood's amalgamator. 
This machine is used in connection with a short sluice lined with amal- 
gamated copper plates, arranged so as to form a series of little troughs 
or riffles containing mercury. At the head of tliis sluice are two or 
three horizontal semi-cylindrical troughs, of six or eight inches radius, 
placed parallel to each other transversely across the bottom of the 
sluice, and partly filled with mercury. The blanket washings are placed 
in a box or hopper above, and being slowly washed down, are carried 
over these troughs and the copper plates and riiSes below, by a small 
stream of warm water, a moderate increase of temperature being found 
to favor the amalgamation. The mercury in these troughs, together 
with the sand as it passes over them, is kept in a state of constant and 
brisk agitation by a wooden cylinder revolving in a direction opposite 
to that of the current, and thickly set with thin blades of iron which 
dij) into the merciary and nearly reach the bottom of the trough. 



MINING AND METALLURGICAL PEOCESSES. 55{> 

AMALGAMATION IN BATTEKY. 

Frequently, Avhen the gold in the ore is fine, and sometimes also 
■when it is coarse, the plan of battery amalgamation is preferred. By 
this mode mercury is introduced into the battery, a small quantity 
being sprinkled in upon the feed side at intervals of from half an hour 
to two hours, as may be needed — the quantity of mercury required 
in the battery varying with the richness of the ore and the fineness of 
the gold ; the average amount being about an ounce of mercury for 
every ounce of gold obtainable from the ore. If the gold be very fine, 
more is needed — in practice, the quantity being judged of by the 
appearance and consistence of the amalgam formed. The amalgam in 
the battery should be too hard to be readily impressible with the 
finger, and yet not so dry as to become brittle, which might cause it 
to break up and be thrown out in little pellets through the screen. A 
small portion of the mercury is thrown out, which, with the gold it 
catches on its way, forms a little ridge of amalgam on the copper plate, 
generally placed under the lip of the mortar outside the battery. This 
amalgam should be of such a consistence that an impi-ession can be 
made upon it with the finger, and yet not too easily. If the amalgam 
becomes too soft, no more mercury is added till it regains its normal 
condition ; and, on the other hand, if it becomes too dry and hard, 
the supply is increased until it is brought to the proper consistence. 

Tor the purpose of collecting the amalgam formed in the batteries, 
the latter are usually partly lined with plates of sheet copper. Upon 
the surface of these plates the amalgam collects, not in a layer of 
uniform thickness, but in irregular bunches and little ridges, the posi- 
tion and thickness of which are mainly dependent upon the "swash" 
produced in the battery by the order in which the stamps fall. The 
curious effects of this ' ' swash, " in determining the distribution of the 
amalgam upon these plates, is a point worthy of more attention, perhaps, 
than it has yet received. 

Below the batteries come the sluices, with their copper plates, 
riffles, etc. , for saving the gold escaping from the former ; these arrange- 
ments, differing generally but little from such as are used in the 
Grass Yalley system ; the blankets and their accompaniments, how- 
ever, being but rarely used where amalgamation in battery is prac- 
ticed. 

Various opinions are entertained by metallurgists and millmen as to 
the efficiency and economy of battery amalgamation; some, who have 
jDracticed it for years still adhering to it, satisfied with their experi- 



550 THE NATTJK.VL WEALTH OF C.VLIPOEIvTA. 

ence, and, while it is no doubt o^jen to certain objections, it is prefer- 
able to all otliers. Quartz mills usually run steadily both day and 
night ; where, however, battery amalgamation is practiced it becomes 
necessary now and then to stop the mill for a "clean up" — that is, to 
collect the amalgam, which has accumulated in the batteries and on the 
copper plates. Sometimes the whole mill is stopped for this purpose, 
while at others, in order to save time, a single battery only is stopped 
and cleaned up, and then another, and so on^ till the whole are thus 
gone through with. A "run " in a quartz mill varies, according to cir- 
cumstances, from twenty to sixty days. The amalgam obtained is 
strained and retorted in the manner already described. 

For the purjDOse of extracting free gold from quartz, the ore is rarely 
reduced to any finer state of pulverization than is attained by crushing 
under the stamps with the screens already described. But when aurif- 
erous sulphurets are present, sufficiently rich in gold to make its 
extraction an object, they are frequently subjected to a further process 
of pulverization and amalgamation. This is effected by grinding 
them in a flow of water and mercury in an arrastra. Chili mill, or in 
some of the many patent cast iron pans or grinding mills of recent 
invention. These pans having first been introduced as a substitute for 
the German barrel in working the silver ores of Nevada, where they 
still continue in use, were afterwards employed also for working the 
gold ores of this State; and, although they may in certain cases be used 
here to advantage, especially in treating such mercurial residues as 
may be collected from the various parts of a quartz mill, they are never- 
theless gradually going out of use, many millmen having discarded 
them altogether. For a description of these pans, and further infor- 
mation touching the extraction of gold from the sulphureted ores, 
Klistel's recently published work on Concentration and Chlorination 
may be consulted to advantage. 

THE MAEIPOSA PROCESS. 

This process, so called from its having been first introduced at the 
Benton mill, on the Mariposa estate, consists in reducing the ore to an 
impalpable powder, by placing it, previously crushed to a coarse sand, 
together with a quantity of chilled, half-inch cast iron bullets, in a 
large horizontal revolving cylinder, or cask of wrought iron, thorough 
pulverization being effected by the friction of the rolling balls. From 
this " ball grinder," as it is called, the ore is conveyed to a strong air- 
tight iron chamber, where it is subjected to the action of the vapor of 



MD^ETO AlW METAXLITEGICAL PEOCESSES. 557 

mercury, volatilized by means of superheated steam. When the amal- 
gamation of the gold is supposed to be complete, the apparatus is 
suffered to cool down, and the pulp having been discharged into a 
receiver beneath, is then washed upon a long copper shaking table, to 
collect the amalgam formed. This process, so far as tried, has worked 
remarkably well, though the question of its general economy can hardly 
be considered settled. 

CONCENTEATION. 

The concentration of ores is a subject of importance in California, 
chiefly in so far as it relates to the separation or extraction of aurifer- 
ous sulphurets from the mass of ore, of which they usually constitute 
not more than one or two per cent, the proportion sometimes being 
much larger. Notwithstanding its great practical importance, the con- 
centration of sulphiirets has hitherto received but comparatively little 
attention in California. At Grass Valley, and in some other localities, 
they are saved, to a certain extent, to be subsequently worked by the 
chlorination, or some other process. For this piii-pose settling boxes 
are usually employed, to catch the heavier sand, Avhich is afterwards 
worked over in a sluice, the cradle or rocker being sometimes used to 
finish up the work. At Grass Yalley, recourse has in a few eases been 
had to a Cornish round buddlo, while a variety of patent concentrators 
have, to some extent, come into use in different parts of the State. 

Of the latter, Hendy's concentrator, in its improved form, is believed 
to be one of the best. This valuable machine, which is designed for 
separating the finely comminuted quicksilver, amalgam and gold from 
the refuse matter and collecting the same, as well as for concentrating 
and saving the sulphurets, operates through a combination of centri- 
fugal force and gravitation^the only principles, as experience has 
shown, capable of effectually accomplishing this object. Of late this 
concentrator has been coming into very general use, it having been 
introduced into many of the leading mills of Grass "Valley, at Virginia 
City, and elsewhere in the State of Nevada; in Arizona, Mexico, Aus- 
tralia, and most other prominent gold and silver producing countries, 
giving the most unqualified satisfaction wherever tested. But few of 
taese machines, however, are yet based upon a thorough comprehen- 
sion of the whole subject, inasmuch as they are incapable of yielding 
u:ader varying circumstances the best attainable results — this question 
of the concentration of ores being one beset with many inherent diffi- 
culties. The iwoblem to be solved can, indeed, be easily stated, since 
the object to be obtained consists simply in effecting as complete a sep- 



553 THE NATUEAL 'WEALTH CF CALI]?OR^'LV. 

aration as possible of tlie particles of ore, according to their different 
specific gravities. But this, where a large mass of material, consisting 
of irregular particles of all shapes and sizes, from the coarsest sand to 
the most impalpable slimes, cannot well be accomplished in a single 
operation. 

While much that is useful may bo learned from what has been 
achieved in continental Europe, it is not to be supposed that eveiy- 
thing found to answer M'ell there can be adopted without modification 
here with equal chances of success, inasmuch as the circumstances are 
widely and often vitally different; still, many valuable hints, together 
with much that is capable of direct and advantageous application, have 
been derived by our metallurgists from the gi-eater scientific knowledge 
and experience of the Old World. 

PLATTNEE'S CHLOEINATION PBOCESS. 

This process, which has been in use at Grass "Valley, Nevada county, 
for several years past, is the only method yet known by which the aurif- 
erous sulphurets of California can be cheaply and economically worked 
upon a large scale; more than ninety per cent, of the gold they contain 
being obtained by this method. It is now ten years since the chlorin- 
ation of auriferous sulphurets was first successfully introduced at Grass 
Valley, and yet there are scarcely more than half a dozen of these 
establishments in the State outside the limits of that place and the 
adjacent town of Nevada, so frequently are processes of real merit 
overlooked and neglected, while those of doubtful utility are liberally 
patronized. 

It is now, however, becoming generally known, that aiu'iferous sul- 
phurets, containing but little silver, can be readily worked to within 
less than ten per cent, of the fire assay, at an expense of considerably 
less than twenty dollars per ton. The outlines of the method by which 
this result is effected being briefly as follows : the concentrated sul- 
phurets are first subjected to a complete and thorough oxidizing roast- 
ing, with constant stirring, upon the hearth of a reverberator}- fiirnace, 
for a length of time varying from twenty' to twenty-four hours, accord- 
ing to the condition and character of the ore. In this roasting there 
are two distinct periods, viz : the first, or oxidizing, and the second, 
or final period, in which the various metallic salts formed during the 
first are again decomposed. During the first period the temperature 
employed is moderate, the ore being kept at a dark red heat only. 
After the requisite temperature is once reached, comparatively little 



MINING AND METALLURGICAL PROCESSES. 559 

fuel is required, since the ore itself soon begins to glow, and from tliis 
time on, tlie burning sulphur contributes largely towards maintaining 
the heat of the furnace. 

The most important chemical changes occurring at this stage are 
the following : the sulphurets are gradually decomposed by the oxygen 
in the heated stream of atmospheric air constantly passing over them ; 
the sulphiir is oxidized, the greater portion of it burning only to sul- 
phurous acid, which passes off in the gaseous form ; and the metals, 
originally combined with the sulphur, are also oxidized, a portion to 
the state of protoxides only, while a portion passes to the state of 
sesquioxides. The sulphur, however, does not all pass off as sulphur- 
ous acid, a considerable portion of it being still further oxidized to 
sulphuric acid, which combines with a portion of the metallic protox- 
ides. During this period the ore, as it is stirred, constantly exhibits 
the blue j9ame peculiar to burning sulphui", throwing out brilliant 
sparks, produced by the rapid burning, in the heated air, of minute 
particles of undecomposed pyi'ites. 

"When the series of changes above indicated are nearly complete, 
the evolution of sulphurous acid greatly diminishes, the blue flame and 
the sparks disappear, and the furnace exhibits a strong tendency to 
cool down, calling for an increase of fuel, which, being added, the 
second or final period begins with the resulting increase of heat. The 
temperature being now raised to a bright red heat, the metallic sul- 
phates formed during the first period are mostly decomposed, the sul- 
phuric acid yielding a portion of its oxygen to the protoxides which 
pass to the state of proxides, whUe the sulphurous acid produced is 
driven off. Thus, at the end of the roasting, if it be properly conducted, 
and only sulphurets are present in the ore, there remain the oxides of 
the metals alone with a certain quantity of sulphate of lead, (which is 
not decomposable by heat alone,) in case that metal is present. Arsenic 
and antimony, if present, behave very much like sulphur, except that 
they have a stronger tendency to fonn arseniates and antimonates, and 
that the salts so formed are much more difficultly decomposed by heat 
than is the case with the sulphates, so that a portion of them is always 
found in the residue, while the quartz remains unchanged. The alka- 
line earths, if present, are chiefly converted into sulphates, which are 
undecomposable by heat. But as some of them, especially lime and 
magnesia, have a tendency in the stibsequent operation to absorb 
chlorine uselessly, and to produce some other xmdesirable effects, the 
theory of which has not yet been very well investigated, the roasting 
is sometimes, during the latter period, in case these earths are present, 



560 TUE NATUTvAL WEALTH OF CXLTFOT.SIA. 

converted into a chloridizing roasting by the introduction of a certain 
quantity of common salt into the furnace, which is found to obviate 
the difficulty. "When the roasting is complete the ore is discharged 
from the furnace and allowed to cool. It is then damjDed with water to 
the proper degree (it should be only damped, not wet) and sifted into 
a large tub or vat — the chloridizing vat, — provided with a false bottom, 
on which rests a filter composed of broken quartz and sand. The inside 
of this vat is covered with a coating of bitumen, or other imper^dous 
material not attacked by chlorine, in order to protect the wood. The 
vat is provided with a close fitting cover, which can be luted on and 
made air-tight. The ore being placed in the vat, chlorine gas is now 
generated in a leaden vessel by means of sulphuric acid, common salt 
and binoxide of manganese, and after being conducted through a vessel 
of water, in order to free it from chlorohydric acid, which, if allowed to 
pass into the ore, would produce a series of undesirable efifects, is con- 
A'eyed by a leaden pipe to the bottom of the vat. Here it gradually 
accumnliites and rises through the ore. But as it is some time in reach- 
ing the top of the vat, the chlorine is generally admitted at the bottom, 
in 02:" ^r to save time, before all the ore is introduced, and the latter is 
then gi-adually sifted in as the chlorine rises. 

■ When the vat is filled and the gas makes its appearance at the top 
of the ore, which may be known by its greenish-yellow color, as well 
as by its suffocating odor, the cover is placed over the vat and luted 
tight. The chlorine is still allowed to enter the vat until it begins to 
escape through a small hole in the cover, left open for the purpose. 
The supply of gas is then shut off, the hole in the cover stopped and 
luted, and the whole allowed to stand for twelve or eighteen hours, to 
complete the chlorodizing of the gold. Water is then introduced, 
which absorbs the chlorine and dissolves the chloride of gold formed. 
The solution is drawn off from the bottom of the vat, a small stream 
Ijeing permitted to run in constantly at the top till the lixiviation is 
complete. The residue in the chloridizing vat is then thrown away, 
while the solution obtained, which is precious, as it contains all the 
gold, is conducted to the precipitating vat or vats. 

The chlorine gas employed in this operation is suffocating and 
poisonous if inhaled, and groat care should be taken not to permit it 
to escape within the building. But there is little danger of sudden 
death from inhaling chlorine, since a few whiffs of this gas wiU serve 
as a sufficient admonition to greater caution. 

To the solution of chloride of gold in the precipitating vats is now 
added a solution of protosulphate of iron, which precipitates the gold 



MISING AOT) METALLtmGICAL PEOCESSES. 561 

in the form of impalpably fine metallic powder. The solution is per- 
mitted to stand for some time, usually over night, in order to afford 
time for the precipitated gold to settle completely. The water is then 
carefully drawn off, the precipitated gold collected upon a large paper 
filter, carefully dried, and then melted and run into bars. The gold 
bars thus obtained, when the work is properly conducted, are .999 fine. 

In practice, this process requires careful attention in all its various 
details, both in the roasting and in the subsequent chloridizing and 
precipitation of the gold. The presence of silver in any considerable 
proportion requires, moreover, important modifications of the process. 
But where only gold is present in the sulphurets, there is little difficulty 
— ^none but what can be readily managed by any one who has a fair 
comprehension of the general principles of the chemistry involved. 

As stated, almost the only means yet adopted in California for 
pulverizing auriferous quartz, is the stamp, employed in the manner 
already described. Yarious other modes of crushing have been de- 
vised, but none of them have ever been extensively adopted, a'^d it is 
difficult to foresee by what implement or mode the stamp is to be here- 
after superseded, if any. In this connection it may be observe ' that 
the style of the California stamp and battery arrangement is in advance 
of that of any other country ; while the means here employed in th^ 
best mills, to extract and save the gold, compares favorably with those 
anywhere in use. But many of the mills in California are still very 
imperfect in their gold saving appliances, the loss of the finer portions 
of the metal in the tailings being large. 

In the treatment of sulphurets the same is true, though perhaps in 
a less marked degree; and it may be anticipated that the chlorination 
process, as it comes to be more widely known and better appreciated, 
will contribute largely to induce the employment of better and more 
systematic methods of concentration, the whole securing such economy 
in saving the precious metal, that a much lower grade of ore will soon 
be profitably worked than is practicable at present. 

In view of the many novel experiments being made, and the new 
inventions seeking recognition by the mining public, it may be said 
that the employment of new modes and machinery promises, perhaps, 
less certain success than an adherence to the old, if only it be used 
vv-ith the requisite degree of intelligence and care. 

3G 



CHAPTER X. 

MINES AOT) MTNING. 

Eapid Exploration of tte Placers — Overestimate of Earnings — Chances Still Good — Im- 
proved Conditions — ^Northwestern Comities — Character of Mines — Gold Beaches, etc.- - 
The Central Districts — ^Various Branches of Placer Mining — Quartz Mining — Number 
of -Locations — Early Efforts — ^Present Kesults — Mining at Grass Valley — A Kepresenta- 
tive Mine — Butte, Sierra, and Plumas Counties — Gold Bearing Slates and Gossans — 
Auriferous Cement and Gravel Beds — Openings for Enterprise, Labor, and Capital — 
Silver — Iron — Quicksilver — The New Almaden Mine — Mineralogy of the Pacific Coast. 

Ah the discovery of gold was the cause that led to the rapid pop- 
ulating and permanent settlement of California, so has the business of 
mining for that metal since formed the leading pursuit of its inhabit- 
ants. For six or eight years after that event, this occupation, in which 
more than three fourths of the adult population of the State were en- 
gaged, was prosecuted almost solely on the bars and along the banks, 
or in the beds of the rivers and gulches, and upon the alluvial flats 
that constituted the more superficial placers. During that period this 
branch of mining advanced from a very crude and imperfect, to the 
highly efficient and somewhat complicated system now in vogue ; and 
which, in most localities, renders the exercise of some little still, and 
the employment of at least a small amount of capital, essential to 
success. 

Of the various improvements thus from time to time introduced, 
it may be observed, that they were less the result of a provident fore- 
sight than of a steadily increasing necessity growing out of the grad- 
ual impoverishment of the richer and more accessible placers, whereby 
the employment by the miner of labor-saving machinery and processes 
became imperative, if he intended to maintain anything like his former 
rate of earnings. These new modes and devices, thus necessitated, 
multiplied in the ratio that the more superficial diggings became 
exhausted, compelling the washing of larger quantities of auriferous 



MINES AND MINING. 563 

eartli, or the reaclimg of the more deeply seated deposits with the 
smallest possible expenditure of time and money. 

The various gold washing implements and methods now in use do 
not by any means embrace all the styles and contrivances that have at 
different times marked the history of mining invention in California. 
The present perfection, as exhibited in these appliances and machines, 
was not reached, as some may suppose, by regular and direct advances 
from the use of the pan and batea to that of the cradle, tom, and 
sluice, culminating in the employment of the hydraulic apparatus and 
the cement mill, without any other modes having been meantime 
devised and tested. Many different plans were essayed, and scores of 
machines were invented and tried, to result almost wholly in failure 
and rejection ; the period most prolific in these experiments being that 
which marked the transition from the use of the pan to the introduc- 
tion of the hydraulic mode of washing. Diu'ing its continuance a 
multitude of gold saving machines were invented and proved ; some 
of them being costly, ingenious, and more or less serviceable, while a 
much larger proportion were not only useless, but absurdly defective, 
many wholly failing to separate the precious metal from the gravel 
and sand, while a few possessed the still less desirable property of 
saving the refuse and rejecting the gold. 

For several years after the discovery of gold, the banks of the 
rivers, and even the roads leading to the mines, were lined with the 
remains of these crude and worthless machines ; while in San Fran- 
cisco the warehoiises and wharves, and often even the vacant lots, were 
encumbered with them to a vexatious extent ; their more speedy dis- 
appearance from these localities being diie to the fact that the erection 
of forges and foundries created there an earlier demand for old iron. 

To even enumerate, much less describe all these inventions, would 
now be impossible, there being scarcely a model of any of them left, 
while but few persons remain who could at this distant day accurately 
describe them in all their details. It may be said of them, however, 
in a general way, that they consisted of washers of almost every con- 
ceivable size, shape and material, involving in their workings every 
known principle of mechanics, and every movement recognised by 
dynamical science. Some were propelled by hand, and others by 
steam or water power. One variety employed rifSes, and another 
sieves or screens as separators. Some were sim^jle, and others com- 
plex; some large and ponderous, while others were reduced to the 
smallest compass, being easily portable in the hand. The effective 
principle in one kind consisted of a vibratory; in another of a centri- 



C34 THE NATDEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEMA. 

fugal, or vertical action. In one case it was proposed to dredge the 
bottoms of tlie rivers witli a series of endless buckets revolving on a 
cylinder, while again attempts were made to explore the deep still 
holes with sub-marine armor. Ingenious, eccentric and diversified, 
however, as were these contrivances, the fact that none of them ever 
attained to more than a temporary popularity — a few being too mani- 
festly absurd to secure even a trial, sufficiently attests their general 
inutility. 

The sums of money spent upon these vagaries, during the earlier 
days of placer mining, amounted to millions of dollars, or their equiva- 
lent in time, a great deal of which was wasted in fruitless endeavors to 
render these new methods and machines available. And yet it cannot, 
perhaps, be said that this money was all foolishly spent, or this time 
vainly wasted. Aided by the lights of present experience, it is easy to 
detect the practical errors then committed, and to point out the falla- 
cious theories entertained ; but it should be remembered that little 
was known at that day in regard to the origin of placer gold, the agen- 
cies by which its deposits were formed, or even the places where it was 
most likely to make lodgment; while the business of seeking after and 
gathering it Avas wholly new to our people, very few of whom had ever 
seen even the simplest gold washing implement, or knew anything about 
the manner of using them. 

All these were problems to be solved and things to be learned; and 
to the extent of that, these efforts were undertaken in the furtherance 
of these objects; they were entirely legitimate and even commendable. 
Many of these theories were, no doubt, chimerical enough, and the 
most of these inventions abundantly absurd : still, as all this could only 
be verified by actual examination and trial, these endeavors, however 
abortive, fairly challenge not only respect, biit sympathy and approval. 
Though so generally disastrous to those undertaking them, and of little 
value in their immediate results, they undoubtedly formed a necessary 
part of that extended system of experiments from which the present 
highly- effective means and modes of operating have been eliminated. 

These disappointments and losses, though numerous and severe, 
Avere but the sacrifices usually exacted of every great industry at the 
outset — the criicial trials that many important interests in California, 
including those of quartz mining, manufacturing, and even farming, 
have been forced to go through; but which, like the pursuit we are 
considering, having survived these early trials, are now established on 
a permanent and prosperous basis. 



MUTES AKD MINTNG. 565 

RAPID EXPLOEATION OF THE PEACEES- OVER-ESTIMATE OF THE 
EARNINGS. 

The exploration of tlie placer mines, wMch, during the year of their 
discovery had been extended to all the more central portions of the 
great metalliferous range, was pushed so vigorously on the arrival of 
the heavy immigration in 1849-50, that by the end of the latter year 
nearly every auriferous gulch and stream of importance in the State, 
except a few in its more northerly parts, had been discovered and par- 
tially -worked. The adventurous miner, during this short interval, 
had, despite the want of trails, the hostility of Indians, and the many 
difficulties to be encountered, pushed up all the principal rivers and 
their branches ; and there, constructing his rude camp, had worked 
over in a superficial and hasty manner, the bars of the streams and 
the beds of the gulches ; some of their number taking out large, and 
a few, immense quantities of gold dust in a very short time. Still, 
the success of these pioneers was very unequal. If the miner happened 
to strike a rich deposit, lie made large wages — sometimes, quite a for- 
tune, in the course of a few weeks or months at the furthest. Failing 
in this, it was often as much as the most industrious and frugal could 
do to earn a livelihood, owing to the enormous cost of subsistence. 

Still, these will ever be looked back to as the halcyon days of 
placer mining, during the earlier portion of which the traditionary 
ounce, being about a fair average of the miner's daily earnings, con- 
tinued to be the standard of a day's wages. The current rate of wages 
was not, to be sure, the exact measure of what could be earned in the 
diggings, inasmuch as the self-employed miners were, as a class, more 
robust and energetic than thdse who hired out their labor ; yet they 
indicate with sufficient accuracy the average earnings of the miner at 
different periods, showing their rapid decline at first and more gradual 
depreciation thereafter until they finally reached present rates. From 
twenty dollars per day in '48, and sixteen in '49, daily wages had fallen 
to eight dollars two years thereafter, and to less than four dollars by 
the end of 1858, since which time they have undergone a further 
decline of about thirty per cent. 

From the above it will be seen that the average reward of the 
miner was comparatively moderate, even while the placers were virgin 
and uncrowded ; it being doubtful if their individual earnings ranged 
at any time above twenty or twenty-five dollars per day at the utmost. 
As usually happens, however, in every pursuit where a few meet with 
marked success, these exceptional cases, often exaggerated far beyond 



566 - THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFORXIA. 

reality, were blazoned througli the press and widely published by the 
busy tongue of rumor, whereby they attained to an immense notoriety ; 
while the hundredfold more numerous examj)les of failure, being 
wholly overlooked, often sedulously concealed, were rarely heard of ; 
or, if made known, were disregarded, as being prompted by sinister 
motives, or were derided as the apologetic devices of the idle and irres- 
olute. And thus it has happened, that a very erroneous impression as 
to the general productiveness of the California placers at the outset, 
having, through these means first obtained, is still widely prevalent ; 
many, ignorant of the real facts, deploring their ill luck in not having 
been among the first to arrive in the mines. 

CHAIJ^CES STILL GOOD— IMPROVED CONDITIONS. 

If, however, we compare the past with the present, and carefully 
canvass the advantages and disadvantages incident to both, it will be 
found that the chances for success do not preponderate so greatly in 
favor of the former as this class of persons are apt to suppose. In the 
first place, the cost of living, as above stated, was then enormous; the 
price of every article, whether of luxury or necessity, being out of all 
proportion to those now prevailing. Owing to a lack of wholesome 
food, medical attendance, comfortable dwellings, and other causes inci- 
dent to the times, the miner was exposed to a variety of diseases — such 
as scurvy, chronic diarrhoea, rheumatism, etc. — none of which are now 
prevalent, some of them being almost wholly unknown. Formerly 
much time was lost to this class in consequence of sickness — deaths, 
also, being proportionately more numerous than at present. Then, 
also, the lives of citizens were exposed to constant danger from acts of 
violence, the whole country being filled with vicious and reckless men, 
against Avhose attacks none were secure in either their persons or prop- 
erty. The most audacious murders were perpetrated daily, and often 
with impunity; while thefts, robberies and similar outrages were things 
of too frequent occurrence to elicit attention, unless the public, in an 
ebullition of passion, seizing the culprits, inflicted upon them summary 
piinishment. Then, too, the prospector in pushing out into new regions, 
had to encounter numerous hardships and dangers arising from the 
want of roads and trails, from scanty fare, exposure to Indian attacks, 
and many other evils, from which the explorer is at this day happily 
exempt. 

Much time Avas also uselessly wasted in searching after gold in 
localities where with present experience none would think of looking 



MINES AND MINING. * 567 

for it; wMle, as we have seen, a great deal of both time and money was 
spent in vain endeavors to wash the auriferous earth bj means and 
methods wholly impracticable. With incredible toil the early miner 
pushed his researches high up into the Sierra, far beyond what is now 
known to be the furthest limit of the gold-bearing belt, seeking after 
the illusory sources whence had issued the deposits strewn along the 
rivers below. Long and wearisome journeys were made away into the 
depths of the gloomy wilderness over the crests of the snowy moun- 
tains, and sometimes out on the hot and arid deserts beyond, in search 
of mythical mountains composed mainly of the precious metals, or 
lakes, along the shores of which the sands glittered with virgin gold. 

Taught by the mistakes of his predecessors, the modem prospector, 
avoidiag these errors, is enabled to insure for his expenditure of labor 
and means, if not always more remunerative, at least more certain 
returns; while, as regards comfort and health, the mining community 
of California enjoy these blessings in as full measure as almost any 
other, whether we seek for them in this country or elsewhere. 

It cannot, indeed, be said that the opportunities for making "big 
strikes, " as they are termed, or even large wages, are as good now in 
the placers of this State as they were at first. This is esjDeciaUy true 
in the case of the man of small means, more particularly if he propose 
to spend but a short time, as, for example, a year or two only, in the 
country. But where the new-comer is content to remaia a series of 
years, if necessary, and, proceeding to purchase or otherwise procure 
an interest in a productive claim, labors diligently, observing sobriety 
and economy, the chances for his amassing a moderate fortune, in the 
course of a few years, are fully as good now as ever before. To 
persons animated with these purposes, the placers of California are 
scarcely less inviting now than they were fifteen or twenty years ago ; 
while, it may safely be affirmed, that to this class they offer induce- 
ments unequalled by any other country or field of labor in the world. 
"Whoever can feel that, in the present altered conditions, he is amply 
compensated for the somewhat diminished chances for the speedy 
accumulation of riches, and the excitements incident to an early sojourn 
in California, may repair to this country with the full assurance that 
things, considered as a whole, have scarcely changed for the worse ; 
there being still vast tracts of almost virgin mines, in certain parts of 
the State, open to occupation, while in the earlier settled and more 
populous mineral districts it is still an easy matter for good workers, 
or men with small means, to acquire ownership of valuable claims 
either by location or purchase. 



568 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

NOETHWESTEEN COUNTIES — CHAEACTEB OF THE MINES — GOLD 
BEACHES. 

For such miners as are fitted to endure the hardships of a rough 
and laborious life, the northwestern portion of the State, comprising 
the counties of Shasta, Trinity, Siskiyou, Klamath and Del Norte, 
presents a favorable opening. But there are obstacles in the way of 
emigration to this region; since, besides being far distant from the 
great centers of population and difficult of access, it is exceedingly 
rugged; almost the entire surface of the country being covered with 
broken hills and lofty chains of mountains, separated by deep and 
precipitous caiions. The climate is rigorous, the winter rains being 
long continued and heavy in the valleys, and the snow lying to a great 
depth for several months on the mountains. Until within the past few 
years many parts of it were infested by hostile Indians, whose depre- 
dations and attacks operated to prevent its settlement and retard the 
development of the mines. These savages having, however, been sub- 
dued, some tribes being exterminated and others gathered upon reser- 
vations, no further trouble need be apprehended on their account. 

The facilities for reaching this section have also been somewhat 
improved of late, in the construction of additional wagon roads lead- 
ing into it from the head of Sacramento Valley, and by the establish- 
ment of more regular steamship communication between San Francisco 
and points along the northern coast, whereby one of the most serious 
objections to emigration thither has been partially removed; and, it 
seems probable, in view of the growing importance of this region, that 
these facilities will hereafter be still further extended, there being a 
prospect even that they will culminate in the construction of a railroad 
extending from the bay of San Francisco northward into Humboldt, 
and ultimately into Klamath and Del Norte counties — such an enter- 
prise having recently been projected, with flattering prospects of being 
pushed to an early completion. 

This northern country is exceedingly well timbered and watered, 
conditions highly essential in placer mining. There are here also 
many small valleys well fitted for agricultural purposes, while fruits 
of all kinds, grow with luxuriance, and the abundance of the native 
grasses, renders this a very tolerable grazing district. The weather, 
though stormy in the winter, is not extremely cold except on the moun- 
tains, the snow rarely ever falling to any great depth in the valleys, 
while at all other seasons of the year the climate is genial and exceed- 
ingly healthful. 



MINES AND MINING. ^^^ 

But it is in its mineral resources that this region commends itself 
to our special attention, the inducements it holds forth being equally 
strong to the laboring miner, the miU-man and the capitahst. There 
is here a vast area of auriferous ground, which, with proper manage- 
ment, could easily be made to pay fair wages; even the localities mos 
extensively worked, not generally being so much depleted as to prevent 
the new comer securing remunerative claims. Much of he country has 
not yet been thoroughly prospected, leaving a chance for fur her dis- 
coveries-operations having heretofore been chiefly confined to the 
larger rivers and their principal branches. And even along some o 
these, it is now believed very extensive and valuable deposits of god 
exist, parties lately prospecting certain bars on the Lower Klamath 
having obtained such results as warrant the conclusion that important 
diggings will yet be developed at these localities. ,,,,,,,. 

It has also been demonstrated by numerous working tests that this 
section abounds with quartz veins of great richness, the average yield 
obtained by very imperfect milling processes frequently surpassing 
that of the most productive mines at Grass Yalley. These lodes can, 
as a general thing, be easily procured, very many of them bemgm 
fact still open to location. With the abundance of fine timber growing 
everwhere throughout the mines, and the ample supply of water, it is 
obvious that the work of reduction, with machinery once on the ground, 
could be performed very cheaply. 

Klamath and Del Norte counties also contain the most prolific o 
the several gold beaches, elsewhere in this volume fuUy described,^ and 
wiiich are constantly growing in importance and value. In the vicinity 
of these deposits others further inland have lately been found, being 
the remains of ancient sea beaches, formed at a time when the ocean 
stood at a higher level, or the land was less elevated than at present 
Some of these buried beaches are covered only by a few feet of black 
sand and vegetable mold, and are otherwise favorably situated for 
cheap and extended working ; and it is now the opinion of competent 
judges, who have carefully examined them, that they will soon become 
the theatres of profitable mining. 

Before dismissing the subject of these northern counties., it may 
be stated, that beds of auriferous cement and gravel have been found 
at various points within their limits, being, as is supposed, identical 
in character and mode of formation with the deep-lying strata of 
Nevada, Butte, and Sierra counties. Should such prove to be the 
fact, they will, without doubt, be found extensive, opening a wide and 
lucrative field for mining enterprise. 



570 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF (iALIFOENLi. 

Possessing so many natural advantages, and containing as yet but 
a sparse population, whereby new-comers can take up mining grounds 
for tbemselves, and tlius become their own employers, this region 
would seem to present as many inducements to the newly arrived 
miner, or others of that class who may be desirous of changing their 
location, as any other in the State. 

THE MOEE CENTEAL DISTEICTS— VABIOUS BEANCHES OF PLACES 
MINING. 

To such as prefer pursuing their vocation in the older and more 
populous districts, there are the several departments of mining com- 
prising the surface placers, the deep-lying cement and gravel beds, and 
the vein or quartz working branches of the business to choose from, 
each offering advantages according to the means, experience, and pur- 
poses of the party proposing to engage in it. Concerning all these, 
so much has been said in various parts of this work, more especially 
with reference to their modes of occurrence and the implements and 
processes employed for carrying them on, that the remarks in this 
chapter will be confined chiefly to considerations connected with 
mining as a profitable field for labor and investment. 

And here it may be proper to observe, that by the term mining, is 
meant the business of prospecting for, purchasing, exploring, and 
practically working the auriferous deposits of this State, of whatever 
kind, with a view to the profits that may be made to accrue from this 
pursuit, followed as a permanent occupation, and not the business of 
dealing in mining stocks, whether fancy or otherwise, much less that 
of organizing schemes for visionary and fraudulent purposes, whereby 
legitimate mining has hitherto been hurt and scandalized, through the 
odium excited by the reckless speculations and shameful impositions 
practiced in its name. HajDpily, the public is now too well advised of . 
these sharp and fraudulent practices to render precautionary advice 
necessary ; none but the most stupidly ignorant or wilfully blind being 
any longer liable to become their victims. 

If, then, the adventurer, having discarded all speculative aims, 
desires to pursue the occupation of placer mining, he will do best to 
seek the more northerly group of counties, comprising Placer, Nevada, 
Tuba, Butte, Sierra, and Plumas. If a novice, and without means, 
it will generally be found expedient for him to work on wages, until 
such time as he has become familiar with the modes of operating, and 
acquired some knowledge as to the character of the different kinds of 
deposits, their methods of occurrence, and the rules to be observed 



MINES AND MINING. 571 

in prospecting for or searcliing after them. Witli this knowledge and 
experience gained, he maj proceed to take up claims for himself, if, 
as is generally the case, any of sufficient value can be found to justify 
locating ; or, having earned some money, he may now buy an interest 
in grounds previously secured by other parties, and which, if not 
already developed to a productive condition, may have been sufficiently 
prospected to enable him to form a tolerably accurate estimate of its 
value. 

- Once an owner in even a passably good piece of ground, the miner, 
unless his luck happen to be unusually bad, will be able to make ordin- 
ary wages — say from three to four dollars per day — his earnings, where 
purchases are made, generally being in proportion to the amount of 
money invested. In buying a part interest, or the whole of a claim, 
tlie price paid varies, of course, with its supposed value — ranging from 
a few hundred to quarter of a million dollars, or more — there being 
many of these properties, and even individual interests therein, that 
could not be bought for the latter sum. 

The amount of labor and money required to open a claim not already 
developed varies widely, according to its situation and character — 
being, moreover, in many cases dependent on conditions that cannot 
be judged of accurately beforehand. Thus, the cost of opening some 
of the more expensive of the ancient river bed and blue gravel 
claims has varied from $100,000 to $200,000 — the expenditure upon 
very many of them having been between $50,000 and $100,000 — 
and the time consumed in the prosecution of the heavier works 
haA'ing ranged from two to ten years. These, however, are the 
most difficult class of placer claims to open — the next, in point of 
expense, the hydraulic, costing much less, except where long bed rock 
tunnels may be called for. Where these are necessary the time and 
expense required for their construction are often very great. These 
hydraulic and gravel claims constitute, however, the best openings for 
enterprise in this department of mining, where ample capital is at com- 
mand, or where sufficient labor can be associated for their successful 
prosecution. Where this is not the case, there still remains to the miner 
a broad scope of shallow placers found generally on the lower foot- 
hills, and sometimes quite out on the rolling prairies that skirt the 
great interior valleys. The auriferous soil here is not usually more 
than a few feet deep ; their great extent, and the extreme facility with 
which they can be opened and worked, compensating for their Avant of 
depth. In the winter, when water can be had free or at little cost, a 
great portion of these diggings can be made to pay fair wages. They 



572 THE NATUEAL "WEALTH OF CALEFOENIA. 

are generally open to location, or where taken up, can be bought at 
nominal prices. Where supplied with permanent and cheap water they 
can be steadily worked with remunerative results, though only in a few 
localities can these conditions be met. Every year additional water is 
being brought upon them by means of new ditches, and tlie business of 
working them is likely to increase gradually hereafter, as they must 
always be in favor with men of small means. 

The river bars and banks, and the auriferous gulches which formed 
the scene of the early miners' toils, are now well nigh exliausted, hav- 
ing been worked over so repeatedly as to no longer reward the labor of 
washing. The river bed claims, like those above mentioned, have also 
in many instances been stripped of their contents; and where they have 
not, besides being expensive and precarious, are generally monopolized 
to an extent that leaves few chances for outsiders getting hold of them 
to advantage. 

A style of mining, or rather an additional method for saving the 
gold that before was lost, introduced sometime since, has latterly come 
largely into use. It consists of what is known as tail sluicing and is 
practiced as follows : A canon, or ravine, is selected through which 
extensive hydraulic claims discharge their tailings. Along this, a broad 
sluice, varying in width from six to twenty feet, is laid down, being 
generally constructed in two compartments, that one may be kept in use 
while the other is being cleaned up. These sluices are always of as 
great length as circumstances will permit, being from a few hundred 
feet to a mile or more long — one being at present in process of con- 
struction by the Palmyra Mining company, which, when complete, is to 
have the unusual length of six miles. It is being laid down in Mis- 
souri and Greenhorn caiions, Nevada county, the outlet of a gi'oup of 
the richest and most extensive hydraulic claims in the State. It is gen- 
erally estimated that less than two thirds of the gold is saved by the 
process of hydraulic washing, the balance passing off with the tailings, 
in the shape of extremely fine particles, which, owing to the strength 
of the current, elude not only the riffles and other appliances, but also 
the quicksilver placed in the hydraulic sluice. These particles can only 
be arrested where the current is slower, and the distance they have to 
travel is increased, giving them a better chance to settle — all of which 
is accomplished by the tail sluice at little cost after it is once con- 
structed, the owner being at no expense for water, quicksilver, pow- 
der, or other material for breaking down the earth or saving the gold, 
and but comparatively, little for labor, since the only attention it 



MINES AND MINING. 573 

requires for weeks, or even montlis at a time, being to keep it from 
becoming obstructed, and to clean it up at the end of that period. 

As these tailings, after passing from the grounds of the hydraulic 
miner, are free to whoever may choose to claim and take the means to 
secure them, and as it is found that they can be made to yield fair, and 
often large profits, the business is likely to present many good openings 
for men of industrious habits and small capital. At present there are 
thought to be numerous unappropriated canons where money could be 
made at tail sluicing, while the increase of hydraulic washing must con- 
stantly add to these opportunities. There is also a likelihood of con- 
tinued improvements being introduced in the methods of operating, 
whereby a larger percentage of the gold passing off with the tailings 
will be saved, rendering it profitable to work them much more exten- 
sively than at present. The loss of the precious metal is still enormous, 
owing to the extremely comminuted particles escaping, as the sluicing 
is now performed. Hereafter, it may reasonably be expected that, 
through the application of more effective mechanical inventions, and 
perhaps, also, of chemical appliances, operations in this branch of min- 
ing will undergo a marked expansion. 

And so in other departments of the business, with the introduction 
of new improvements and inventions, similar progress will be made — 
all the more important and permanent branches of mining having, 
with the progi-ess of time, undergone steady enlargement. Auriferous 
deposits that a few years ago were overlooked as worthless, now give 
remunerative employment to large numbers of laborers. Quartz that 
could not, at one time, be made to defray cost of extraction, is now 
making millionaires of the fortunate owners ; while tailings that were 
suffered to run to waste, having given rise to a new branch of mining, 
are, as we have seen, now being washed with largely accruing profits. 

And thus, in canvassing the future prospects of the gold mining 
interest of this State, we are warranted in presuming that it will con- 
tinue to experience large and constant expansion through the applica- 
tion of the same means that have hitherto worked these results ; while 
the business of exploring for new mines, both in quartz, the ancient 
river channels, and in hydraulic deposits, will, no doubt, lead to im- 
portant discoveries in every direction — the field of labor, from what- 
ever point viewed, appearing almost illimitable, and the future full of 
encouragement and promise. 

In speaking of the improvements and discovei-ies made on a grand 
scale, and which look to the general advancement of mining, it is not 
intended to convey the idea that these isolated cases of success, denom- 



574 THE NATCTIAL 'WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

inatecl "big strikes," -wliicli marked the early miner's career, no longer 
liappen. Though not so numerous as formerly, they are still of fre- 
quent occurrence ; a reluctance to add unnecessarily to his income tax, 
and other prudential motives, restrain the miner from making these 
hicky incidents known so freely as before. Many of them, however, 
still come to light— the newspapers published in the mining regions 
constantly recording these instances of individual success, showing that 
the era of big nuggets and " rich pockets " is by no means over in 
California. 

The revenues accruing to the owners of the larger and more lucra- 
tive hydraulic and gravel claims are often very large, varying from 
twenty thousand to one hundred thousand dollars, and upwards, per 
year. Thus, we find that one individual reports an annual income, 
derived chiefly from a single gravel claim in which he is part owner, of 
§102,000. Four persons, residents of the small mining camp of Tim- 
buctoo, give in an aggregate yearly income of $109,000, derived from a 
hydraulic claim of which they are joint o^vners. These parties were all 
but a few years since poor, hard working men, having opened these 
now largely productive claims principally with their own labor. 

How enormously some of these grounds pay may be inferred from 
the sums expended by the owners for water supplies annually ; thus, 
the water account of the Babb company, at Timbuctoo, for the past 
three years, reaches the sum of §90, 000 — the Michigan company, near 
by, having, during a like period, expended for this item a still larger 
sum. Another company at this place, ha-sdng already paid out on this 
account §120,000, will have to incur a still larger expenditure before 
their gTound is exhausted. A cluster of hydraulic claims on the Big 
Blue Lead, Nevada county, all within a compass of a few square miles, 
pay an annual rental for use of water of nearly half a million dollars — 
there being many other mining camps in that section of the State where 
proportionally large sums are expended for a similar purpose. 

QUAETZ MINING. 

The examples of extreme large results obtained in this branch of 
mining are less frequent than in the hydraulic and gravel diggings, it 
being generally marked by a steadier and surer, though more moderate 
success than the other. "Without attending to the extremely rich and 
generally limited deposits of quartz that have heretofore been found 
in certain localities, as at Carson HiU and elsewhere, and from which 
millions of dollars have in a short time been extracted, thousands of 



MINES AND MINING. 575 

dollars ■worth having been sometimes thrown out at a single blast, or 
stopping to dwell upon the workings of a few exceptionally rich veins, 
such as the Soulsby and Allison Banch, it will be our business at this 
time to briefly consider the average results attending the practical 
every day working of quartz in this State. 

It has already been explained, that there is one leading vein, or 
rather system of veins, running longitudinally across, and very near 
the centre, laterally considered, of the great gold bearing belt of Cal- 
ifornia — that there are other subordinate groups of veins running par- 
allel to, and on either side of this main one, the distance separating 
them varying in width from two or three to ten or fifteen miles, the 
intervening space also frequently containing valuable lodes and masses 
of quartz — that the most largely productive and permanent deposits 
of auriferous rock are usually found along these parallel ore channels — 
and, finally, that the gold bearing rock, or ore, occurs along the same 
in bunches, known as ' ' chimneys, "or " chutes, " being very unevenly 
distributed, and, so far as known, without much reference to regularity 
or system, some portions of these veins being rich in the precious 
metal while others are barren — even all semblance of a lode for long 
stretches entirely disappearing. This grand central vein is often 
denominated the "mother lode," or, in the Spanish, the "Veta Madre,'' 
meaning the predominating lode or ore channel of the country. In 
stating that this mother vein is more largely productive than any 
others, it is meant that it affords a greater amount of pay rock — ^not 
that it is richer, it being in fact below the average grade of California 
quartz. The reason that the mines situated upon it pay better than 
those elsewhere, is not only that it turns out much greater bodies of 
ore, but the latter can be extracted at less cost than from narrow lodes, 
encased in harder varieties of metamorphic rock. 

"With this much premised, it will be understood that the operations 
of quartz mining and milling are confined mostly to certain belts of 
country ; though occasionally very extensive and profitable fields for 
carrying on the business present themselves in regions far removed from 
the mother lode, the northwestern group of counties furnishing a case 
in point ; wliile the Meadow Lake country, lying on the summit of the 
Sierra, supplies an example of promising quartz mines, in what is 
termed an " outside " district 



57(i THE NATDEAl WEALTH OF CAXIFOEMA.. 

mrMBEK or LOCATIONS— EAELY EFFORTS. 

There are 472 quartz mills in this State, carrj-ing a total of 5, 120 
stamps — the -whole erected at an aggregate cost of about §10,000,000. 

In regard to the number of mining claims located and held under 
compliance -with local laws, it would be impossible to form even an 
approximate estimate, as new locations are being constantly made and 
old ones abandoned. It may be said, however, that the company loca- 
tions, embracing from two or three to twenty or more individual claims, 
can be numbered by the thousand; even what are considered separate 
lodes being veiy numerous. 

For several years at first, and up till 1856 or 1858, nearly all the 
quartz operations undertaken in this State proved failures ; the high 
prices of labor, freights and material, and above all, a total ignorance 
of the business having been the principal causes contributing to this 
result. During the past ten years, however, these conditions having 
been steadily changing for the better, we find that this pursuit, estab- 
lished on a solid footing, may justly be accounted one of the most safe, 
profitable and prospectively permanent of all these great industries 
that underlie and impart steadiness to so many subordinate occupations 
and interests. 

It is not our purpose in this place to speak in detail of the business, 

or to enlarge on isolated cases of success or failure; all that can be 

done in the limited space at command being to allude in general terms 

to certain classes of operations, and the results that have attended 

them. 

PRESENT RESULTS. 

Beginning at the southern end of the great auriferous range, we find 
there are in Tulare and Kern counties thirty quartz mUls, carrying an 
aggregate of two hundred and sixty-five stamps, all but five of these 
mills being in the latter coimty, and a majority of them in what is 
known as the Clear Creek district. The veins here are numerous and 
of medium size, varying from two to six feet in thickness. The ores 
above the line of permanent water carried mostly free gold; and as but 
little trouble was encountered in their treatment, these mines were, for 
the first few years after the introduction of mills, worked with marked 
success ; the advantages for cheap reduction, with the exception of high 
freights, being moderately good. After reaching the sulphureted ores, 
however, so much difficulty has been experienced in their management 
that not more than one quarter of the mills in that region have been 
running for the past two years, the product of bullion having meantime 



MINES AND MINING. 677 

fallen off in a corresponding ratio. "With the trouble of working the 
sulphurets once mastered, as it no doubt will be, this must again 
become a prosperous district, as the veins carry a fair per centage of 
gold and give satisfactory evidence of permanence. 

Concerning the lodes and milling operations in Mariposa county, 
the next quartz mining district coming north, and separated from 
Clear Creek by a space of nearly two hundred miles, so much data has 
been presented elsewhere in this volume, that only a few facts of gen- 
eral purport will be here introduced. 

The ores of the Princeton, the leading mine in this district, and 
one of the first opened, having been worked as early as 1852, yielded 
a short time as high as $75 per ton, this being while the workings 
were confined to the decomposed sulphurets near the surface. Subse- 
queiitly, and up till 1864, the ores yielded an average of $18. 34 per 
ton, the cost of raising ores having been $6, and the milling $3. 25 per 
ton, whence, it appears, that a net profit of nearly fifty per cent, 
accrued. In the latter part of 1864, the yield suddenly dropped to $6 
per ton, then again increased until the mine is now yielding a profit, 
though by no means so large as formerly. The main shaft has reached 
a depth of nearly seven hundred feet, and it is probable that further 
sinking will reveal new bodies of valuable ore, such having, imder 
similar circumstances, frequently been the experience in this State. 
A number of examples could be cited in which the yield of gold having 
fallen below a remunerative point, has again been restored to its former 
standard, upon the lode being exploited to greater depths. In almost 
every extensively worked vein, zones of barren quartz may be expected 
to occur both on its vertical and longitudinal extensions, yet no experi- 
enced miner ever thinks of abandoning it where other characteristics 
of permanence are present. The Princeton ores have been reduced 
at a twenty-four stamp steam-mill, erected in 1860, at a cost of $40, 000, 
and although this property has suffered much from mismanagement, 
the ores having for a long time been treated in a wasteful way, and 
large sums having been uselessly expended upon it, it is still consid- 
ered valuable, there being scarcely a doubt but the ores under per- 
sistent exploitation will so far improve that fair profits will again accrue 
from their working. The aggregate product of this mine approximates 
the sum of $3,000,000. 

Located near the north end of this county, belonging, like the 

Princeton mine, to the Fremont estate, and lilie it worked from a very 

early period, are two veins, known as the Pine Tree and the Josephine,, 

both of which, after undergoing fluctuations similar to the Princeton,. 

37 



578 THE NATURAL 'WEALTH OF CALIPOENIA. 

* 
are now, with the employment of a new metliod of amalgamation, 

giving good returns — the ore crushed yielding an average of S30 per 
ton, whereby a large margin is aSbrded for profit. Under the present 
administration, this property, including two first class mills, which at 
one time had depreciated to a mere nominal value, promises to become 
largely and permanently productive. 

As these several mines are supposed to fairly represent the class of 
larger veins in Mariposa, it will not be necessary to go into an indi- 
vidual description of the character and workings of the latter, the 
most of which could, no doiibt, with a miich less expenditure of money, 
be made to yield revenues equal to those now being derived from the 
Piae Tree and Josephine. Of the smaller class of veins in this" county, 
which are quite numerous, many have been made to pay large wages, 
worked by arastras, a favorite method of operating among the Mexi- 
cans, who have been most largely engaged in the business. 

In Tuolumne county, the App, Dutch Claim, Eawliide Eanch, and 
a few other leading veins, heretofore freely commented upon, may be 
accepted as representative mines of the county. Further north, in 
Calaveras and Amador, several groups of valuable veins present them- 
selves at Carson Hill, Angel's Camp, Volcano, Sutter Creek, and other 
points along the mother vein ; some of which, under a system of 
thorough development, have been brought to a highly productive con- 
dition; fully illustrating the importance of a persistent and intelligent 
application of means in the exploration of this class of mines. 

Of all this niimber of mines, that belonging to the Amador Com- 
pany, situated at Sutter Creek, is the most noteworthy, being in fact 
one of the most valuable pieces of mining property in the State. From 
a recent report on this mine made by Messrs. W. Ashbui-ner and Henry 
Janin, Mining Engineers, it appears that the main working shaft has 
been sunk to a depth of 1, 109 feet on the vein, which inclines at a mean 
angle of 71°, being equivalent to a vertical depth of 1,049 feet, making 
it the deepest shaft in the State. The claim of this comj^any embraces 
two main lodes, the Eureka, from twelve to twenty feet wide, and tlie 
Badger, from one and a half to three and a half feet in width. 

The gold here, though mostly free, being but little associated with 
sidphurets, is so generally disseminated throughout the rock as to be 
rarely visible to the naked eye. The only sulphuret present, that of 
iron, occurs in the small proportion of only one half of one per cent. 
The average yield of the entire body of ore taken from this mine, hav- 
ing been about $14 per ton for the previous ten years, returned at the 
i-ate of over §20 per ton during the fifteen months ending with Febru- 



MINES AND MINING. 579 

ary, 1868; the improvement, -which had been constant as greater depth 
was attained, throughout all this time, having been very marked during 
the past year and a quarter, the best ore coming from the lowest levels 
of the mine. The ore recently raised from the deepest point reached 
on the Badger lode paid at the rate of $95 per ton. It shows more free 
gold than that taken from any other portion of the mine, carrying at 
the same time a larger per centage of sulphurets. 

Taking the earnings of the past year, which it is believed can be 
steadily kept up, as a guide, the following results may be counted on 
as likely to attend the futtire workings of this mine : Quartz raised 
monthly, 1,800 tons; average yield, $20.04 per ton; cost of milling and 
mining, $6.04 per ton; net profits, $14 per ton; total monthly product, 
$36,000; expenses, $10,800; clear profits, $25, 200— giving for net 
annual earnings $302,400. The Company own two mills, the Eureka, 
carrying forty, and the Badger sixteen stamps, and having a joint 
capacity to crush sixty-five tons of rock daily, a quantity far less than 
the mine might easily be made to supply. The net value of the 
reserves, being such bodies of ore as may be said to be already in 
sight, is estimated by Messrs. Ashburner & Janin at $847,653 — suffi- 
cient with the present reduction capacity to keep the company's mills 
engaged for several years to come. 

It should be remembered that the prospects of this mine were any- 
thing but auspicious at first, some of the early owners having given it 
up in despair. For many years the ore extracted was of too low grade 
to cover cost of raising and reduction; and but for the pertinacious 
eiforts of a single individual, with little other means than his own 
labor, it would, most likely, have been abandoned during the earlier 
stages of its development as being utterly worthless. The principal 
object in presenting the foregoing details has been to exemplify the 
conditions upon which success in this department of mining is some- 
times dependent, and to impress upon those engaged in its prosecution 
the necessity that exists for the exercise of the most unyielding perse- 
verance and energy. \ 

MINES AND MINING AT GRASS VAiLEY. 

Although there are in both El Dorado and Placer counties many 
valuable A'eins of quartz, with numerous examples of successful mining 
and milling operations, there are here no such clusters of productive 
claims as are found at Grass Valley, or instances of long continued and 
marked success as is furnished by the Amador, the Sierra Buttes and 
various other mines in the more northerly counties; wherefore, it can 



580 THE NATUEAl ^TI;.\LTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

be tbouglit no disparagement to the many excellent mines ■within their 
limits that so little has been said of them in a review so salient. 

As at Grass Valley, operations in quartz mining were first inaugu- 
rated, so have they since been conducted here with greater steadfast- 
ness, energy and general success than at any other point on this coast. 
In what has been done here we have an epitomized history of the busi- 
ness — of its vicissitudes, good fortunes and reverses in California. 
Hence, in treating on this topic, that place is apt to be selected for 
remark, since the experience had, here more fully exemplifies the whole 
subject than that of any other locality in the State. 

It is still problematic whether the greater productiveness of the 
mines at Grass Yalley is due more to the large amount of well directed 
labor and the amplitude of the means employed in their development, 
or to their inherent and absolute superiority. Should it be owing to 
the former, their citation as an example of what may be accomplished 
through these agencies, will serve our present purpose all the better — 
it being simply to enforce upon every one, whether already engaged, or 
who may contemplate engaging in the business of quartz mining, the 
imperative necessity that exists for unrelaxed effort until results entirely 
determinate are arrived at. 

Labor on the lodes at Grass Valley, begun in 1850, has been con- 
tinued without interruption since. Passing over the earlier years of the 
business, Avhich even in this favored locality were full of disaster, we 
find that the yield of the quartz mines has for a number of years past 
been at the rate of about $3, 200, 000 per annum, nvhich, there being a 
little upwards of 2,000 men employed in the mines and mills there, 
would give an average yearly production of §1,600 for each work- 
man. The total gold product for the last fifteen years is estimated at 
about $30,000,000; a single lode, that running through Massachusetts 
and Gold Hills, upon which several company claims are located, having, 
prior to 1865, yielded $5,000,000 worth of gold. There are twenty- 
three quartz mills in this district, carrying an aggi'egate of a little over 
two hundred and eighty stamps, and having a capacity to reduce nearly 
one hundred thousand tons of ore annually. Twenty of these mills 
are propelled by steam, and three by water, the whole having cost 
about $500,000. The lodes here are narrow, none of them exceeding 
seven feet, and many being less than one foot wide. But they are dis- 
tinguished for the uniformly high grade ores they carry, the latter aver- 
aging between $30 and $35 per ton. They contain a large per centage 
of sulphurets, which contributes with the narrowness of the veins to 



JONES AND MINING. 581 

render the average cost of extraction and reduction liigli — about $15 
per ton. 

A BEPKESENTATIVE MINE. 

"Without referring to the Allison Eanch, Eureka, and other of the 
okler aud heretofore more prominent companies at this place, with the 
operations of which the public are already tolerably well acquainted, 
■we will present at this time a few leading facts bearing upon the work- 
ing of mines with which they are less familiar. Of this class is the prop- 
erty of the North Star Company, now thoroughly opened, and of great 
prospective value. The main working shaft on this mine has been 
sunk to a depth, on the incline, of nine hundred feet, being equivalent 
to a vertical depth of three hundred and two feet, operations being in 
progress for the opening of still lower levels. A vertical shaft has also 
been projected, to have a depth of four hundred and fifty feet, which, 
when completed, will tap the vein six hundred feet below present 
workings, foUovfing its slope, affording ores for many years to come — 
this company having always observed the wise policy of keeping explo- 
ration well in advance of requirement. This lode, but about one foot 
in thickness in the croppings, has increased to two and a half in pres- 
ent lower levels, the ore having steadily undergone a corresponding 
improvement. Although work upon the North Star lode vi'as com- 
menced at an early day and kept up without intermission, it supplies 
a notable example of a mine paying all expenses of exploration and 
improvements, and making large dividends, without ever having levied 
an assessment. The force now emploj^ed consists of one hundred 
and fifty men ; the improvements are a sixteen stamp steam mill, pow- 
erful hoisting works, and all other aids and apparatus usually appurte- 
nant to a first class mill and mine. The product of the North Star for the 
four years ending January 1st, 1867, amounted to $842, 100, it having 
yielded dividends at intervals for upwards of seventeen years. The 
net profits realized during the past nine years have amounted to over 
$600, 000. The gross earnings of the mine for the past two years have 
been at the rate of about $26, 000 per month — the net profits varying 
from $10,000 to .'^12,000 per month. 

Vast masses of ore remain in the reserves, or backs, opened by drifts 
from the main shaft ; a large portion of the vein above the three lower 
levels being virgin and unbroken. The plan of letting out all under- 
ground work by contract having been first tatroduced by this company, 
and found to operate to the satisfaction of all parties, the system has 



582 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALtPORNTA. 

since been adopted by other companies to an extent that promises its 
general introduction tlirougliout the State. 

There are many other companies engaged in quartz mining and 
milling at Grass Yalley, and of whose operations and properties the 
general public hear but little, but who are able to make showings very 
similar to this exhibit on the part of the North Star Company ; the 
case of the latter having been presented more fully, merely as indicat- 
ing what is being accomplished by no inconsiderable number of mines 
at that place. 

BUTTE, SIEEEA AIJD PLUMAS. 

Although we do not find in either of these counties any great or 
extremely active quartz mining center, still, each contains a large num- 
ber of mills, with many productive and a vastly greater number of 
undeveloped but promising mines, the greater attention paid to the 
placers having tended to retard this branch of mining. Though this class 
of operations have here been much restricted, the average success, so far 
as they have gone, has been not gi-eatly behind that at Grass Valley; 
the product of one or two claims in Sierra having been second only to 
that of the best mines in Nevada county. Among the more noted 
examples of success in this region, is that supplied by the workings of the 
Sierra Buttes Mine, the locality and general features of which are else- 
where partially described in this work. This vein, which is inclosed in a 
hard metamorphic slate, varies in thickness from six to thirty feet. In 
process of extraction, only the richer portion, consisting of a streak 
about twelve feet thick lying next the foot-wall, is removed. The lode 
has now been worked to a depth of over eight hundred feet, the ore 
from the lower levels paying as well as that nearer the surface, though, 
owing to extensive decomposition, the croppings paid better than any 
other portion. After getting below the point to which atmospheric 
and similar influences had extended, the ore has undergone but little 
variation, having given an average yield of about $14 per ton. This 
valuable property was first located in 1851, though little was done upon 
it until 1854, from which time until 1857 the croppings Avere worked at 
intervals with arrastras, yielding a gross product during this period of 
$175,000, and a net profit of $80,000. During the latter year a Chili 
mill and several additional arastras were put up, the running of which 
resulted in a corresponding increase of earnings. In 1858 an eight- 
stamp mill was erected, followed in 1860 by two additional twelve- 
stamp mills. 



MINES AND MINING. 583 

The following table exhibits the gross earnings and net profits of 
this mine for the past eleven years : 

GroBS Yield. Profits. 

1857 $51,000 $36,000 

- 1858 55,000 40,000 

1859 88,000 68,000 

I860 •.... 120,000 83,000 

1861 198,000 154,000 

1862 164,000 112,000 

1863 158,000 100,000 

1864 , 90,000 15,000 

1865.... 198,000 132,000 

1866 223,000 144,000 

1867 180,000 105,000 

Prior to 1857 175,000 80,000 

Totals $1,700,000 $1,069,000 

The quantity of ore crnshed during this time approximated 130, 000 
tons. The cause of the decline in the product of 1863-64, was insuffi- 
ciency of water to run the company's mill, compelling the building of 
a flume at a cost of $40,000, to bring in an additional supply. 

GOLD-BEAEII>rG SIATES AND GOSSANS. 

Aboiit the year 1860 attention began to be directed for the first time 
to a species of auriferous deposits discovered in the copper bearing 
range adjoining the main gold belt on the west. The first claim of this 
kind taken up was at Quail Hill, in the Gopher Mining District, Cala- 
veras county, it having been located for copper during the prevailing 
excitement about that metal in the year above mentioned. Subse- 
quently, over 150 tons of copper were shipped from these grounds, 
consisting chiefly of the green and blue carbonates, containing about 
$50 value per ton of the precious metals, and averaging thirty-two per 
cent, of copper. The superficial area- of the claim comprises a paral- 
lelogram 1,800 feet long, and 600 feet wide. This deposit, which 
exhibits strong croppings, is, in its upper portions, a regular gossan, 
stained everywhere with the oxide of- iron and the carbonate of copper, 
giving it a peculiarly variegated and rusty, or ochreous appearance. 
The explorations made upon it sufficiently disclose its character, prob- 
able value, and extent — enough having been done to prove it an ore 
channel at least throe hundred feet wide, and probably of a much 
greater width. Its contents, so far as exposed, consist wholly of the 
decomposed metallic sulphurets, which, mixed with spongy white 
quartz, taleose and chloritic rocks, rotten porphyry, heavy spar, etc. , 
are all so thoroughly decayed as to yield readily to the pick, rendering 



584 TILE NATURAL ■WE.llTII OF CALIFOENU. 

their removal a matter of little expense. The original vein, of gigan- 
tic dimensions, seems to have been highly charged with the sulphureta 
of copper and iron, both of which, as well as the gangue itself, having 
become impregnated throughout with the precious metals. Almost 
every part of this decomposed mass, including the rocky croppings, 
when pulverized and washed, yields a fair "prospect" of free gold. 

These grounds have been somewhat extensively prospected by 
means of various pits, open cuts, tunnels and shafts ; all of which, 
though some of the latter have been sunk to a depth of over one hun- 
dred feet, continue in highly productive material, indicating that nearly 
the entire mass can be worked with profit. 

The company owning this mine erected upon it a twenty stamp mill, 
in the autumn of 1867, for the purpose of reducing its contents. For 
several months at first the yield did not exceed three or four dollars 
per ton, which, however, as the cost of extraction and crushing was 
small, still left some margin for profits. Subsequently the character 
of the material grew better, having undergone such marked improve- 
ment that the yield in February, 1868, averaged over §9 per ton, 
enabling the company to pay at that time a monthly dividend of $4, 000, 
a rate that it is believed can be not only kept up, but steadily increased 
hereafter, a better grade of ores having been developed as greater 
depth was attained. The cost of mining and milling here is but $2 50 
per ton, the gold being easily saved by amalgamation in the battery 
and the use of blankets, no other apparatus or process being necessary 
to its thorough extraction. 

The present working levels are now over one hundred feet below 
the surface, at which point the mass of pay matter has not only 
increased in richness, but seems to maintain its original dimensions, 
as well as its decomposed and ochreous character. Some excavations 
recently made at a higher level have also revealed richer deposits than 
had previously been found in the upper works. 

This company, besides their mine, are owners of a very valuable 
water franchise and works, consisting of a large reservoir and over 
twenty miles of canals, affording water ample for the use of the adja- 
cent mining region, with sufficient to sjsare, for one thousand stamps, 
driven by steam. Their entire expenditui'e in the purchase and 
improvement of this property has amounted to $199,000, which large 
sum is generally considered to have been an excellent investment, 
present earnings paying good interest on that amount — while with an 
increase of working capacity the net product of the mine coiUd be 
materially enhanced. 



MIKES AND MrHEiTG. 585 

Similar beds, or ore channels, filled with these gossans, have been 
found else-where in the State ; one of which, known as the Banker, or 
Harpending claim, located near Lincoln, Placer county, was, for a por- 
tion of the year 1866, successfully worked with a five-stamp mill. 
At this j)oint, in a small round hUl, rising about one hundred feet 
above the adjacent plain is imbedded the metalliferous mass, about two 
hundred feet wide, and five hundred feet long. Here, mixed with the 
decomposed quartz and pyrites, is a talcose rock — nearly the entire body 
of which exhibits small quantities of free gold, when washed. This 
mine has been opened and worked like a quarry, the whole of the ma- 
terial being crushed ^vithout much selection. Owing to the facility with 
which it can be removed and pulverized, the cost of mining and milling 
is small — from five to six tons being run through, to each stamp, every 
twenty-four hours. A number of capitalists, purchased a controlling 
interest in this mine in 1866, and erected a forty-stamp mill, which has 
since been running, at intervals, on these ochreous gossans with fair 
results. 

ATJEIEEKOUS CEMENT AND GEAVEL BEDS. 

A brief allusion to this class of deposits will close our description 
of the various branches of gold mining in California. Concerning 
the origin and extent of these beds, their position and modes of 
exploitation, so much has already been said that it only remains to 
notice one or two of what may be considered leading claims, with a 
view to a more full elucidation of their permanence and productive- 
ness; to which end, what is known as the Blue Gravel Claim, at Smarts- 
ville, may be taken as an example of the difficulties to be encountered 
in opening these grounds, as well as. of the liberal rewards that often 
attend the successful issue of such undertakings. 

Work upon this claim, involving the necessity of constructing a 
long and costly drain tunnel, was commenced in 1853, the capital of 
the parties undertaking it consisting chiefly of their own labor. 
During the first nine years there was washed out $315,489, all of which, 
with a further sum of $7, 543, standing against the company as indebt- 
edness, was absorbed by current expenses. In March, 1864, the main 
tunnel having been completed, the claim began to yield enormously, 
having turned out, during the following forty-three months, $837,409, 
of which $625, 543 were net earnings ; $564, 500 having been divided 
among the owners as profits, and $61,043 meantime expended for 
improvements. The average monthly outlay during this period, for 
labor, material, and all other causes of expenditure, except such as 
should properly go to account of capital, was less than $5,000. 



536 THE NATUE^VL WEALTH OF CALrFOENLY. 

The evenness ■witli -whicli tlie gravel here has paid indicates that the 
gold is distributed throughout it with great uniformity; arguing that this 
claim "will continue to pay equally well for many years to come, there 
being a vast amount of auriferous earth and gravel yet to be washed. 
The quantity disposed of to obtain the foregoing results approximates 
1,600,000 cubic yards ; the yield of the upper portion, or white cement, 
constituting less than one-third of the entire mass, having been at the 
rate of $0 50.67 per cubic yard, and that of the lower stratum, or blue 
gTavel, at the rate of $0 84.66 per cubic yard. The sums paid for 
water during these forty-three months, amounted to $57,261, being at 
the rate of fifteen cents per miner's inch. 

The American Hydraulic Company realize from their gravel claim 
at Sebastopol, Nevada county, an annual net revenue of $65,000; and 
although the cost of opening their claim has been small compared Avith 
that incurred by the Blue Gravel Company, they have a valuable prop- 
erty, owning sufficient ground to keep their sluice profitably employed 
for a long time to come. It is estimated that the gold washed from a 
group of hydraulic claims situated at Quaker Hill, You Bet, and other 
small mining camps in the vicinity, has since their first opening 
amounted to over $15,000,000. The Granite Company, washing by 
hydraulic pressm-e at Birchville, Nevada county, averaged a gross yield 
during the past winter and spring of $150 per day; the Kennebec Com- 
pany, at the same place, $250 ; and the Buckeye, $500. At French 
Corral, near by, Eddy & Co., took out $30,000 in a run of one month; 
while the Dockum Com^Dany, operating at the same place, have cleared 
$33,000 within the past two years. These are not cited as extreme 
cases, but as instancing about what are the average results obtained 
from the better class of claims in that section when they are once 
opened, and of which there are a large number in Nevada county. 

OPENINGS FOE ENTEEPEISE, LABOE AND CAPITAL. 

From the foregoing facts and well verified statements the following 
conclusions seem fairly deducible : that the chances for making money 
in the mines of California are, to the industrious, frugal and patient, 
nearly as good now, everything considered, as they were fifteen or six- 
teen years ago; that the inducements for immigration, more especially 
for mechanics, common laborers, and others desirous of hiring out 
their services, are great — the scale of wages ranging from sixty to 
ninety per cent, higher than in the Eastern States, and more than a 
hundred per cent, higher than in the best paid labor markets of 
Europe — and, finally, that the opportunites presented for the safe and 



' MEffiS AND MINING. 587 

profitable investment of capital are yastly better in the mining regions 
of this State than can be found in any other country in the Tvorld. 

We have already sufficiently indicated the best modes of procedure, 
and the most eligible fields for such as desire to engage in mining on 
their own account. To such as prefer hiring out their labor^ it may bo 
said, that good hands are always in demand in the mines at about the 
following rate of wages, the prices paid varying somewhat with the 
kind of work to be done and slightly also with locality, there being a 
tendency to higher rates the further we go north : For those engaged 
in underground and otherwise extra laborious, disagreeable or danger- 
ous work, $3 to $3.50, and sometimes as high as $3.75 per day, or 
from $75 to $80 per month; for ordinary work, $2.75 to $3 per day, 
and from $60 to $75 per month, the miner in all cases boarding and 
lodging himself, which will cost at the rate of about $25 per month, or 
a little less, if he board himself, as many of this class do, owning their 
own cabins and often a sufficient plat of ground around them to raise 
all the fruit and vegetables they may require. In working by the day 
no time need be lost in the summer by reason of bad weather, nor is 
the per centage large at other seasons except in districts so elevated 
that placer operations are interriipted by the frost and snow. In few 
other countries is the time necessarily lost from this cause so small as 
in California. The advantages of the climate, the beauty and healtli- 
fulness of the country, and the great excellence and abundance of 
everything essential to subsistance having been amply expatiated upon 
elsewhere in this volume, will not be further noticed in this place. 

So also of questions relating to the investment of capital, so much 
has already been said that it only remains to be observed that every 
year's and every month's experience tends only to confirm the opinions 
expressed everywhere in this work, to the effect that the gold mines of 
California present incomparably better openings for the safe and pro- 
fitable expenditure of money than any other field of investment to be 
found. No active pursuit promises anything like the returns, while 
none can be more free from fluctuations and contingencies than this 
species of mining properly conducted in this State, at the present day. 
The most numerous examples of rapidly accumulated fortunes are found 
among the miners ; the largest revenues are enjoyed by this class, and 
in them is vested the ownership of the most valuable noii-productivo 
properties in the State ; many of their number being already rich, and 
not caring to develop the same — satisfied that their constantly increas- 
ing value will render the sums expended in their purchase and partial 
improvement a safe and remunerative investment. 



588 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNLi. ^ 

TVTiile gold is tlie princii^al metal now miued and by far the most 
valuable in the State, California contains a great variety of other kinds 
as well as of the useful minerals — the latter often in great abundance. 
Thus, we find here, silver, coal, iron, copper, quicksilver, borax, sul- 
phur, salt, manganese, tin, and many other varieties of the metals and 
minerals of most economic use or greatest value in commerce. 

SILVEE. 

The various argentiferous ores abound in this State to an extent 
that, in the absence of a more precious metal, would distinguish it as a 
silver producing country. Already, the business of mining for this 
metal constitutes almost the sole pursuit of the inhabitants of three 
counties in the State, while, as is well known, valuable lodes of argen- 
tiferous ores exist in many other counties ; the principal deposits, so 
far as explorations extend, being in Calaveras, El Dorado and Shasta, 
and upon the Island of Santa Catalina, where it occurs very abund- 
antly as an argentiferous galena. There are now twenty-two mills and 
reduction works, several of them of large capacity, employed in work- 
ing silver ores in this State ; and it may fairly be presumed that with 
so great an extent of valuable mines, and so large a population engaged 
in the business, that the product of this metal will be very consider- 
able in the course of a few years, when existing difficulties in the treat- 
ment of these ores shall have been more fully overcome. 

OP COAIi, COPPER, BORAX, SALT AND SULPHUR. 

So much has been said elsewhere in this book that their further 

consideration may be dismissed with the simple remark, that they are 

all growing in importance with the introduction of new branches of 

manufacture calling for supplies of these several articles, and with the 

general advancement of the trade and varied industries of the country, 

every year adding to the amount of their production and commercial 

value. 

IRON ORES. 

The large and rapidly increasing consumption of iron in this State, 
together with the prospective requirements growing out of the con- 
struction of railroads and the present high prices of this material, ren- 
der the qucSstion of home supply one of vital import. Deposits of 
ferruginous ores are known to exist in different parts of the State, but 
not generally under circumstances that would render their reduction 
profitable, or even practicable. Thus, there are numerous extensive 
beds in the Coast Range mountains, with others of less extent in the 



KIXES AND MINING. 589 

vicinity of San Francisco; but the absence of fuel, and often of sufficient 
water for smelting works, renders them of little or no value. 

There is, however, a heavy accumulation of excellent ores at Gold 
Valley, Sierra county, situated under circumstances extremely favor- 
able to large and cheap reduction, there being in the immediate vicinity 
an abundance of the finest timber and a sufficiency of water for all 
necessary purposes. These deposits, which are located about twelve 
miles east of Do-\vnieville, in the neighborhood of the celebrated Sierra 
Buttes Gold Mine, are owned by the San Saba Iron Mining Company, 
incorporated with a view to prosecuting the work of their practical 
development. 

The ores at this point occur in a belt of metamorphic rock, being 
scattered over an area four miles wide and ten or twelve miles in length. 
They are of the magnetic variety, identical with that from which the 
best Swedish and Eussian iron is made, and exist here under three 
different conditions : First, as an unmixed magnetic ore, so fine grained 
as to resemble the best of steel, and so pure that a large proportion of 
it will yield from sixty to sixty-five per cent, of metal. Then, there are 
masses of this magnetic ore mixed with carbonate of lime, while again 
it occurs associated with talcose slate, through which are diffused innu- 
merable crystals of iron, the impurities in this case being of a kind not 
likely to interfere injuriously with the smelting process, while the car- 
bonate of lime is present in about the jsroper quantity to supply the 
necessary flux. These two classes carry about fifty per cent, of the 
pure metal. 

The deposits at this place furnish a notable instance of iron ores 
marked by an entire absence of arsenic, sulphur, phosphorous, and 
such other substances as tend to deteriorate the quality of the metal. 
The aggregate quantity of ore upon the tract owned by this company 
is immense; the outcrop of the ore chutes being from fifty to two hun- 
dred and fifty feet long, from twenty to two hundred feet wide, and pro- 
jecting from twenty to fifty feet above the surface — it being estimated 
that a million and a half tons of first class ore can be removed from the 
surface deposits, worked as an open quarry. 

The value of these mines is greatly enhanced by the facilities that 
exist for the reduction of their ores, being in the midst of heavj for- 
ests of pine and spruce, insuring cheap and unfailing supplies of char- 
coal for smelting, fuel for generating steam for motive power, and lum- 
ber for building; while a number of small streams near by can be made 
to afford all the water necessary for the reduction works, and, during a 
portion of the year also, for the propulsion of machinery. 



590 THE NATURAL WEALTH OP CALIEORNU. 

As regards a market for tlieir product, those mines are favorably 
situated, being in and adjacent to extensive mining districts, wherein 
the consumption of iron, already large, will hereafter become greatly 
increased, while the price of the imported article must always remain 
high. Meantime, the facilities for transporting this product to points 
where required ^Yill be all the while increasing, as new wagon roads con- 
tinue to be built throughout the country, while the construction of the 
projected Feather Eiver railroad will aiford additional advantages in 
this respect — the line of this road, by the route contemplated, running 
within a short distance of this company's property. 

WiUi such valuable deposits of ore, so favorably situated for cheap 
reduction— with very considerable markets at present, and such a large 
prospective demand — it is highly probable that the erection of smelting 
works, already projected by this company, will be consummated, and 
the business of manufacturing pig iron be entered upon at an early day. 
Tliat, if once inaugurated, this enterprise will prove alike advantageous 
to the proprietors, and beneficial to the country, can scarcely be ques- 
tioned. 

QUICKSILVER. 

"While deposits of cinnabar occur at many points in California, the 
only mines yet developed to a productive condition consist of the New 
Almadeu, the New Idria, the Eedington, Guadalupe, and the San Juan 
Bautista — the first the earliest opened, and by far the most prolific 
mine in the State. 

The work of opening and improving this mine, begun in 1846, was 
prosecuted during the following four years with considerable energy, 
having been attended with an expenditure of $978, 114, and resulted in 
the accomplishment of considerable exploratoiy labor, in the erection 
of furnaces, and the extraction of metal to the value of §535, 540 — being 
$442,572 less than the amount expended. 

The landed estate of this company consists of 7, 800 acres. Many 
parts of this tract are traversed by veins of cinnabar, some of them 
traceable for long distances — indicating extensive deposits of this ore. 
The population employed in, or dependent on the mine, amounts to 
about 2,000 ; the company having at present 700 men on their pay 
roll, though at times the number i^ much larger. The capital stock of 
this company consists of 100,000 shares, of §100 each. The mine is 
vmderstood to be in a prosperous condition, with an extremely prom- 
ising futiire before it, the reserves of ore in sight being large. 

The total product of the New Almaden mine, and the average per- 



MINES AMD MINING. 



591 



centage of metal yielded by the ore, during the last seventeen and a 
half years, are exhibited by the follo-sving table : 



Dates. 


Oee Consumed 
Pounds. 


Pee- 

CESTAGE 


Flasks. 


POCSDS. 


July, 1S50, to June, 1851 


4,970,717 
4,634,290 
4,839,520 
7,488,000 
9,100,300 
10,355,200 
10,299,900 
10,997,170 
3,873,085 


35.89 

32.17 
27,94 
26,49 
26,23 
20,34 
18,93 
20.05 
20.05 


23,875 
19,921 
18,035 
26,325 
31,860 
28,183 
26,002 
29,347 
10,588 


1,826,437 
1,523,956 
1,379,677 
2,013,862 
2,437,290 
'^ 155 99'9 


July, 1851, to June, 1852 


July, 1852, to June, 1853 

July, 1853, to June, 1S54 

July, 1854, to June, 1855 


July, 1855, to June, 1850 


July, 185fi, to June, 1857 


1,989,153 

1,245,045 

809,982 


Jul}', 1857, to June, 1858 


July, 1858, to October, 1858 


November, 1858, to January, 1861*. . . 


February, 1861, to January, 1802 

Februai-y, 1862, to January, 1863 

February, 1S63, to August, 1863 

November, 1863, to December, 1864. . . 

January, 1865, +0 December, 1865 

January, 1866, to December, 1866 

Januaa-y, 1867, to December, lS67t. . . . 


13,323,200 
15,218,400 
7,162,060 
25,046,100 
31,948,400 
26,885,300 
26,023,933 


18.21 
19.27 
18.11 
10.40 
12.43 
11.62 
7.05 


34,705 
40,391 
19,564 
46,216 
47,194 
35,150 
24,461 


2,659,522 
3,089,911 
l,i96,G46 
3,535,524 
3,610,341 
2,088,975 
1,871,266 


Totals 


401,887 


35,333,586 









The New Idria Mine, now worked with good judgment and econo- 
my, is giving a monthly product varying from six to eight hundred 
flasks — ^having turned out in the year 1866, 6,0-15 flasks, and in 1867, 
11,500 flasks. The Eedington Mine, for these respective years, yielded 
2,980 and 7,145 flasks. Under a vigorous administration, the very- 
extensive and high grade ores of this company are being developed 
with a skill and energy that promises large additions to its annual 
product. The yield of the Guadalupe Mine was 1,651 flasks for the 
year 1866, and 1, 200 for 1867 ; the total prodiict of the San Juan Bau- 
tista Mine having been 80 flasks for the month of December, 1867. 

The principal markets for the surplus quicksilver product of Cali- 
fornia are found in China, Mexico and South America, the consumption 
in this State, and adjoining States and Territories being large. The 
product of the State for 1867, as above set forth, aggregates 44,386 
flasks, of which 28, 853 were exported, leaving for account of home con- 
sumption 15, 533 flasks. Of this, China and Mexico, each, took 10, 000, 
and South America 3,800 flasks, the balance being sent to different 
parts of the world. The disturbed condition of the countries, usually 
constituting our priacipal customers by diminished requirements in 
those quarters, has for a year or two past depressed prices, and to some 
extent restricted production. 



* Mine closed by injunction. 



+ Ore on hand equivalent to 5, 000 flasks. 



592 THE NATUEiVL ■WEALTH OF CALIFOENU. 



MINEKAIiOGY. 



The mineralogy of California presents some peculiarities that are 
■worthy of note. Of the kno-ma mineral species, ■which no'w number 
about seven hundred, but little more than one hundred have been hith- 
erto recognized on this coast. The paucity of silicates, and the absence 
of the "zeolites," else'where so common in the volcanic rocks, are very 
marked features. Fluorspar and barytes, ■which enter so abundantly 
into the composition of the vein stones of other mining countries, 
are of exceedingly rare occurrence, though the former is found, as ■will 
be seen by reference to the subjoined list, associated ■with the copper 
ores of Monte Diablo, and the latter is known to occur. 

Wliile the State of California is pre-eminent as containing ■within 
its borders a great variety of valuable ores, yet some, else'where com- 
mon, do not exist here in sufficient quantity to be of economic value. 
For example, no considerable deposits of lead and zinc have as yet 
been discovered, except perhaps the galena occuring in uncertain quan- 
tity on the Island of Santa Catalina. In the Castle Dome district, on 
the Colorado river, in Arizona, there is reason to believe that valuable, 
and perhaps permanent mines, of a highly argentiferous galena exist. 
The Santa Catalina ores contaiti but a small amount of silver. 

The similarity of our mineralogy to that of Chili has been noted, 
and adduced as proof of the unity of the Cordilleras of North and South 
America. 

The foUo'wing is a list of the priacipal mineral species hitherto 
recognized in the States of California and Nevada, and the adjoining 
territories, together ■with some of the localities at -which they occur: 

Alahasta — Los Angeles county. 

Andalusite — In the drift of tlie ChowcHlla river. In slates near Homitos, Mariposa county. 

Antimony Ochre — San Emiclio mountain. (W. P. Blake.) 

Arsenic — Aiisal mine, near San Carlos Mission, Monterey county. 

Arsenical Anlimony — OpMr mine, ■Virginia Citj', Nevada. 

Arsenolik — Armagosa mine. Great Basin. Ophir Mine, Nevada. (Genth.) 

Azurite — Common among the surface ores of copper. 

Barytes — Bare in CaUfomia, but occurs in large granular masses at Quail Hill, Calaveras 

county. 
Biotiie — In vicinity of Grass TaUey, Nevada County. 
Bitumen — Abundant in the southern coast counties. 
Blende — ^^Vith galena, in the auriferous qiiartz veins of the State. No massive deposits have 

as yet been found in Cahfornia. 
Borax — ^Abundant in the -waters of Boras Lake, Lake county, and in the mud beneath — 

frequently in crystals three inches across. 
Boumonite — Said to occur in the ore of the Shcba mine, Nevada. 
Calcile — Localities numerous. 



MINES AND MmmG. 593 

Cassiterite — (Binoxide of Tin) — Temescal Kange, about sixty miles from Los Angeles. Idaho 
Territory, on Jordan creek. State of Durango, Mexico. 

Cenislte — Great Basin, near Mohave river, and incrusting galena from the mines of the Castle 
Dome district, Arizona. 

Chalcopinte — (Yello-w Sulphuret of Copper) — Occurs in various parts of the State ; but in 
very large masses in Calaveras and Plumas counties. 

ChrysocoUa — (Silicate of Copper) — Copper mines of Arizona. 

Chrysolite — Between the Pittsburgh and Pioneer Quicksilver claims, north-west of Mount St, 
Helena. 

Chrysolite, — Various localities. 

Chromic Iron — Monterey county, near San Benito river. Near the New Idria Quicksilver 
mine. Alameda county, near San Antonio. 

Cinnabar— Occurs abundantly throughout the Coast Eanges, and sparingly in the Sierra 
Nevada. 

Coal — At Monte Diablo, Corral Hollow, and various localities in the State. At the former 
locality are the only beds known to be valuable. Lignite is found in various parts of 
the State. 

Cobalt Bloom — (Erythrine) — Near San Luis Obispo, and elsewhere in the State. 

Coccinite — (Iodide of Mercurj') — Santa Barbara county. (G. E. Moore.) 

Corimdum— In the drift of the San Francisquito Pass. (Baron Eiclithofen.) 

Copper — (Native) — At various localities in the State. From Copper river, Alaska, masses 
similar to those of the Lake Superior mines have been brought. 

Copper Glance — (Vitreoiis Copper) — Occurs abundantly in Arizona, where it is usually argen- 
tiferous. Specimens from Plumas county, California, are said to contain as much as 
$200 in silver to the ton. 

Diamond — At several localities in Cahfomia. Idaho, on the Owyhee river. 

DiaUogik — (Carbonate of Manganese) occurs abundantly in the silver-bearing veins about 
Austin, Nevada. (W. P. Blake.) 

Dolomite — In Amador county, in narrow, snow-white veins, traversing chloritic rocks, and 
bearing coarse, free gold. (W.P.Blake.) It is also associated with quartz 

Emholite — Lander county, Nevada ? 

Emerald Nickel — ^With chromic iron, Monterey county? Near San Luis Obispo. 

Erubescite — (Variegated copper) — Siegel lode, Plumas county. 

Feldspar— -Xn various species common throughout the State. 

Fluorspar — Siiaringly, in small white cubes, with copper ore, at Monte Diablo. (W. P. Blake.) 
Occurs abundantly with galena and blende in the lead mines of Castle Dome district, 
Arizona. 

Galena — Occurs in most of the auriferous quartz veins of California ; also at various points 
in the Coast Kanges. On Santa Catahna Island. Abundantly in the veins of Castle 
Dome district, Arizona. 

Garnet — Various localities. 

Gay Lussite — In a small salt lalce, near Kagtown, Nevada. (B. SiUiman.) 

Glauierite — Pound in the mud beneath Borax Lake ; only locaUty in which it has been hith- 
erto recognized in North America. (B. Silliman.) 

Gold — In rocks later than the PalsEozoic, throughout the State, but more particularly in the 
metamorphio belt of Triassic and Jurassic rocks on the western flank of the' Sierra, 
Nests and bunches of octahedra, with beautifully brilliant faces, have been taken from 
the Princeton mine, Mariposa estate. In El Dorado county, at Spanish Dry Diggings, 
a mass of gold, made up of irregular dendritic crj'stallizations, and weighing sixteen 
pounds was found. CrystaUine gold has been found in many of the hydraulic wash- 
ings in the State. It occurs curiously associated with cinnabar and bitumen in Colusa 
county. 

Gold and Tellurium— See Tellurium. . 

Graphite — ^Eureka Plumbago Company's mine, near Sonora, Tuolumne county ; and else- 
where in California. 

38 



594: THE NATUEAli VreALTH OF CAUTOEJOl. 

Gypsum — Various localities. 

Sayesine — Occurs in globular masses, in layers alternating with those of salt, in Columbia 

Mining district, Esmeralda county. (K. H. Stretch.) 
Semaiite — Abundant in Cahfornia ; perhaps the most important locaUty is north of Auburn, 

Plucer county. 
JTessite — In the gold drift, El Dorado county. fW. P. Blake.) In the Eeist mine, on the 

great quartz lode, at "Whisky Hill, Tuolumne county. 
Homehlende — Throughout the State. The variety ' ' asbestos, ' ' at many localities. Mouu- 

tain cork, in Tuolumne county ; and tremohte in limestone in the same county. 
Hyalite — ^\'ith semi-opal, about thirty miles south of Monte Diablo, ty*^. P. Blake.) 
Jlydromugnesite — In the Ticiuity of the New Idria niines. (J. D. TvTiitney.) 
Idocrase — Siegel lode. El Dorado county? 

llmenite — ^El Dorado county, near Georgetown, from gold washings. (W. P. Blake.) 
Ii-idosniim: — With platinum and gold, in the beach sands of the northern counties. Found 

also as a residue in melting large lots of gold dust. 
Kerargyriie — Locahties numerous, particularly in the decomposed surface ores of the silver 

mines of Nevada, Idaho and Arizona. In Cahfornia, in the mines of the Slate Eauge 

district. 
Zimonik — Common in California. In Oregon, near Portland, occurs in an extensive bed. 
Magnesite — Occurs massive at various locahties in the Coast Ranges. Associated with the 

quartz of the veins of Cahfornia. 
Magneiite — At various locahties in the State. In extensive beds, massive, and of superior 

quahty, in Sierra county. 
Malacldk — (Green Carbonate of Copper) — Abundantly in surface ores of the copper mines of 

the State. 
Manposik — A provisional name for a supposed new species, attached by Prof. B. SiUiman to 

the hght apple-green colored mineral, occvirring with dolomite and quartz in the Vekt 

Madre of Cahfornia. 
Mrxrcasik — Locahties numerous. 

Marmolik — In the vicinity of the New Idria Quicksilver mines. (J. D. AVhitney.) 
Mercury — (Native) — In the " Pioneer claim, ' ' northwest of Mount. St. Helena, between Pine 

Mountain and Mount Cobb. It occurs frequently in globules in the silicious limestone, 

and sometimes in geodic cavities, in considerable quantities. 
AflspicM — Commonly associated with gold in the auriferous quartz veins of Cahfornia. 
Natron — (Carbonate of Soda) — Various locahties. 

Fetroleum — Abundantly distributed throughout the coast counties, from San Diego to Cres- 
cent City. 
Platinum — With iridium and iridosmine, on the coast at Cape Blanco, Southern Oregon. 

Analysis of a sample of the mixed metals from Port Orford, in 1854, gave forty-threo 

and iifty-four, and one hundred per cent, of platimmi. (W. P. Blake.) 
Proustik — (Light Bed Silver Ore) — In the veins about Austin, Lander county, Nevada. At 

the Daney Jline, and sometimes in the ores of the Comstock Lode, Nevada. 
Pyrargyri(e—(Rnhy Silver) — lu the silver mines of Nevada. It is particularly abundant in 

the mines about Austin, Lander county, Nevada. 
Pyr'iks — Common throughout the State. 
Pyrolusiie — A very pure ore of Binoxide of Manganese occurs in considerable quantity on 

"Bed Bock," in the Bay of San Francisco. 
PyromorpkUe — Occurs frequently in the auriferous quartz veins of the State that are marked 

by the presence of galena, as for instance, in the Primrose Mine, Sierra county. 
Pyrnphyllik — Occurs in the gold region ; locahtj"- not known. (W. F. Blake.) 
Pyrrhotine — In Cahfornia : precise loeaUty unknown. 
Quartz— Tine crystals are obtained in the mines of California and Nevada. The vitreous, 

chalcedonic, and jaspcry varieties are not uncommon in various parts of the State. 
Salt — (Book Salt) — Abundant as an incrustation throughout Cahfornia. It also occurs in 

enormous quantities in the beds of dry lakes in Nevada. 



imCES AND MINING. 595 

5assoK?i— (Boracio Acid)— Clear Lake, Lake coionty. (W. P. Blake.) 

Scheelite—hi the Mammoth district, Nevada. (Dr. C. T. Jackson.) 

Serpentine — Abundant throughout the State. 

Sdenite— In shales of Lone Tree Canon, east side of Monte Diablo range. (J. D. "WMtney.) 

>Sauer— (Native)— It is of comparatively rare occuiTence in California, but found frequently in 
the mines of Nevada, Idaho and Arizona. 

Silver Glance — Abundant in the silver mines of Nevada. 

Sphene—ln the granite of the Sierra Nevada. (W. P. Blake.) 

Stephanite— The crystals have been taken from the mines on the Comstock lode, Nevada 

Stibnite-ln large masses near the San Emidio Canon, also in acicular crystals and granular 
masses at the Lake quicksilver mine. 

Stromeyerite — Heintzleman. mine, Arizona. 

Svlphur—ln large deposits at foot of Clear Lake. In considerable quantity at several local- 
ities in Colusa county, and at other points -within the State. 

Teirahedrite—Occm:a in the Veta Madre of California ; abundantly in the Sheba mine Ne- 
vada. ' 

re;Z«n«m— Native, and associated with silver and gold, in some of the auriferous quartz 
veins of Cahfornia. Native tellurium occurs foUated in a mine at Angel's Camp, Cal- 
averas county. It is also associated with silver and gold in a mineral which is prob- 
ably to be referred to a new species, containing more silver than gold. (B Silliman 
M. D., Deo. 2d, 1867.) It appears that Mr. G. Kustel had previously noted the pecu- 
liar composition of tUs mineral, in a communication to the Mining and Scieniiiic Press 
May 20th, 1865. ■ j ^o, 

Tourmaline— Sa.n Diego county, north side of vaUey of San FeKpe, in feldspathic veins 

Tungstate of Manganese— Mammoih. District, Nevada. (Proe. Cal. Acad., HI, p. 199 C. T 
Jackson.) ' ' ' > • ■ 

Trt4fmfe-(JIolybdate of Lead>-round in small yellow crystals in the upper part of the 

Cahfornia Mine, Comstock lode, Nevada. (W. P. Blake.) 
Zircon— Occurs with garnets in mica slates of Monte Diablo. (Geology of Cal • vol I d 22- 
J. D. "Whitney.) ' ' ' ^- ' 



CHAPTER XI. 

MANUPACTUEING INDUSTEIES. 

Introductory Eemarks. Woolen Mills : The Pioneer Mills — ^Mission Slills — Pacific Mills — 
Marj'S-^iUe MUls. Cotton Manufactures — Floming Mills — Sugar Eefineries. Iron Works : 
The Pacific Kolling MiUs — Union Iron Works — iliners' Found.'y, etc. — Boiler Works. 
Brass Foundries — Saw MiUs and Lumber — Wire and Hope Works — The Pacific Cordage 
Factory — Tanneries — Powder Works — Fuse Factory — Paper MiUs— Glass Works — Mau- 
ufaetiu'e of Salt — Soap Factories — Candle Factories — Glue Factory — Chemical and Acid 
Factories — Matches — Oil Works — Eice Mills — Lime and Cement — Lead Works — Mai'ble 
Works and Quarries — Potteries — Boots and Shoes — Saddlery and Harness — ^Wagons, 
Carriages, Cars, Agricultural Implements, etc. — Furnitm-e — Matting — Pianos, Organs, 
Billiard Tables — Breweries and Distilleries — Brooms, and Broom Corn — ^TS'ood and Wil- 
low Ware — California Type Foundry — Cigar Manufactories — Manufactui-e of Clothing, 
Shirts, etc. — ^Furs — Meat Packing and Ciiring — Dried and Preserved Fraits and Vege- 
tables, etc. — ^Miscellaneous Manufactures — ^Works Projected or in Progress. 

Tie State of California possesses sucli marked and manifold advan- 
tages, aside from its geographical jDOsition, as to insure the rapid build- 
ing up of large manufacturing interests ■within its limits. Foremost 
among these advantages is the vast and widely diffused water-power 
found in all the hill and mountain districts throughout the northern 
and eastern sections of the State. Extending along the western water- 
shed of the Sierra, and following the lateral range that, near its north- 
ern end, sets off toward the coast, is a belt of country five hundred 
miles long and seventy-five miles wide, crossed by more than twenty 
large rivers, many of them formed from several forks — each, for a good 
portion of the year, a fair sized stream. Besides these rivers, there 
:are many creeks flowing in like manner across this belt, and which, 
though not perennial, carry heavy bodies of water for at least one half 
iihe year. All these rivers have their sources about the summits of 
tTie lofty Sierra or its outlying ranges, whence they descend rapidly 
towards the great interior plains, a portion of them flowing directly 
into the sea ; many of them making a fall of more than six thousand 
feet in flowing a distance of seventy or eighty miles. The amount of 
propulsive power that may be generated by an entire and economical 



MAmrFACTUBES. 597 

appropriation of these waters -would, to one unacquainted with their 
■volume and the favorable condition under which they exist, seem 
incredible. To state it as being equal to the force exerted by five hun- 
dred thousand horses would be to keep well within bounds. Already 
nearly two hundred quartz mills, over fifty fiour, and one hundred and 
fifty saw mills, are driven by such inconsiderable portions thereof as 
have been diverted for this purpose. If all the water power existing 
in the New England States were added to that of New York, New Jer- 
sey, and Delaware, it would scarcely exceed that still ranning to waste 
down the side of the Sierra. 

The generally open character of the country, the deep alluvial soil 
and its freedom from stones, and the facility with which lumber can 
be obtained for fluming, render the construction of ditches a matter 
of comparative ease throughout this region. Already a costly and wide 
extended system of aqueducts is to be found in the mining canals that 
ramify nearly all parts of it, supplying water to many of the quartz 
mills, as well as to hydraulic, sluice, and other modes of earth wash- 
ing. This water, after having been used for the latter purposes, could, 
in many cases, be made subservient to the propulsion of machinery ; 
and it will doubtless happen hereafter that as the auriferous earth 
becomes exhausted in different localities, the water once used for 
washing will be afterwards availed of for milling and manufacturing 
purposes. 

Locating manufactories, foundries, and machine shops in this weU 
watered district, will be but to bring them to the door of the consumer; 
since, in the mining communities to be planted here in the future will 
be found the best customers of these industrial institutions, which will 
thus be saved the expense attendant on the carriage of their wares to 
distant markets. These streams run directly across the principal min- 
eral belt of the State ; a country rich in every species of agricultural, 
as well as mineral and other kinds of natural wealth— wherefore, it is 
obvious, that all these several interests must be blended, growing up 
in harmony, mutually depending upon and aiding each other. 

In case it should be found expedient, however, to locate these estab- 
lishments further down where the fall is insufficient to create a water 
power, then the magnificent forests on the mountains above will afford 
an unfailing fuel supply— the construction of short railroads, only, 
being necessary to insure the delivery of lumber and firewood at the 
points where needed in endless quantities, and at very low prices. It 
is, furthermore, worthy of remark in this connection, that many kinds 
of stone suitable for the foundation works, and where required for the 



598 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEinA. 

superstructure also of buildings, abound in almost every part of this 
region, and generally under very favorable circumstances for quarrying 
and removal. Wtile in tlie coast and other mountain ranges of the 
State the water power, as well as the wood and lumber supply, is much 
more restricted than in the region just considered, there is still a 
sufficiency of both in many places to enable the business of manu- 
facturing to be carried on to a considerable extent, some of these 
streams having already been appropriated for driving machinery. 

In the larger towns, more especially in San Francisco and its sub- 
urbs, destined, from the advantages of its position, to become a point at 
which more manufacturing will probably be concentrated than at any 
other on the coast, coal can be obtained at rates that will render the 
cheap generation of driving power, through the agency of steam, always 
practicable. Or what is still more probable, petroleum, now promising 
to be brought into use so successfully as a steam fuel, will come to be 
extensively introduced in these localities. Should the result anticipated 
from the experiments now being made with this fuel be ultimately real- 
ized, the coast region of California will be rendered quite independent 
of other sources of fuel supply — the deposits of this substance being 
widely diffused, easily obtained, and Avholly inexhaustible. In addition 
to this immense power already created, and so convenient to hand, or 
that can be so cheaply generated, California enjoys in her genial and 
salubrious climate another great advantage over most manufacturing 
countries. In that part of the State where these multifarious industries 
are likely to grow up, it can almost be said that there is no winter. 
The heat of the summer in the interior is long continued, and in many 
localities for a time oppressive, though never debilitating, owing to the 
cool nights that prevail throughout that season. During the remainder 
of the year the weather there is for the most jDart delightful, out door 
laborers seldom suffering from either heat or cold. In California the 
mill-wheel is rarely ever pinioned by frost, or the paths that lead to the 
workshops and factories obstructed by snow and ice. Neither is the 
craftsman ever forced to go shivering to his task, or to labor in a chilled 
and freezing atmosphere — the benignant climate invigorating the sys- 
tem and relieving toU of its greatest hardships. Here the shops, and 
factories do not require to be kept constantly closed to economise the 
heat within, compelling the operative to labor in a foul, foeted and 
debilitating atmosphere, destructive to health and depressing to the 
spirits. Except in the more elevated districts, the temperature is such 
that even in winter all active emplojTaents maybe comfortablj' pursued 
in the outer air or with open doors. In this mildness of the climate 



MANTIPACTUEES. 



599 



the artisan classes will ever find a safeguard against sickness and dis- 
comfori, while it reduces materially the cost of living, in the saving 
of fuel, clothing and shblter. The quantity of fuel required for a smaU 
family does not amount to more than half.as much in California, take 
the year through, as is necessary anywhere throughout the Northern 
and Middle States of the Union ; while the cost of clothing, notwith- 
standing somewhat higher prices, is considerably less than in the 
Eastern States ; the difference in the expense of constructing dwell- 
ings being stiU greater in favor of California. It is estimated by com- 
petent judges that at least twenty per cent, more service is rendfered 
the employer here tlian in most other countries, in consequence 
of the greater mildness and salubrity of the climate. Food, includ- 
ing an abundance of the most delicious fruits, must always be cheap 
in^'this State, while in most country localities the employes of the 
workshops and factories can, if so inclined, each be the owner of a 
house and lot, the latter of sufficient size to enable him to raise his 
own fruits and vegetables. Land is everywhere cheap, already cleared 
fpr the plough, and generally of good quality, while firewood and lum- 
ber must remain at very moderate prices for many years to come, in 
the districts designated by natvire as the great manufacturing field of 
California— especially along that portion of it that covers the western 
slope and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. In the heavy expense 
that must always attend the transportation hither of manufactured com- 
modities, particularly the more low priced and bulky, from countries of 
cheaper production, the California maker of these articles will enjoy a 
perpetual tariff which alone will go far towards protecting him against 
the superior skill, and cheaper labor and capital, not only of the East- 
ern domestic, but also of the foreign manufacturer, to say nothing of 
the duties imposed by the general Government upon the imported 
wares of the latter. Again, nearly all the staples that constitute the 
raw materials required for manufacturing, are found existing native in 
California, or can be raised here with the utmost facility, the soil and 
climate being well adapted to the growth of a wide range of such pro- 
dr ctions as are most needed for this purpose. For anything requiring 
to be made of wood, metal, wool, leather, or of any of the more com- 
mon fibres, except cotton, California has, or can produce the material, 
generally of the primest quality, and at scarcely greater cost than the 
most favored countries on the globe. Of the substances most essen- 
tial in making chemicals, paper, powder, glass, cordage, stone and 
earthenware, we have an abundance. The country is prolific in nearly 
everything most required for the operations of the forge, the foundry, 



600 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

the ship-yard, the rope-walk, the carriage, machine, and furniture shops; 
while the animal, vegetable, and mineral oils, the resins, salts, pig- 
ments, etc., are of easy obtainment. We ara near to the best fish- 
eries and fur producing regions of the world ; have marbles, cements, 
and fine earths, rare woods, the precious and the useful metals and 
minerals, with plants, barks and roots of every class and variety. 

Some ten or twelve years ago, when the partial exhaustion of the 
more superficial placer mines caused an almost universal depreciation 
in the prices of property and a general stagnation of business, and 
labor seemed so superabundant in California as to excite just appre- 
hensions as to its future profitable employment, a number of enterpris- 
ing and adventurous citizens, in the hope of supplying with home-made 
articles a few of the numerous commodities imported from abroad, 
embarked in manufacturing, mostly with limited means and in a small 
way, and thus laid the foundation for those various industries which, 
having since obtained a permanent footing and become widely extended, 
have saved California from that partial depopulation and business 
prostration that was so justly apprehended; and which, but for the 
timely inaugui'ation of these industrial entei-prises, would no doubt 
have overtaken her. To the introduction of this wise policy is the 
State, and more especially the city of San Francisco, indebted for the 
marked prosperity enjoyed by them during the past eight or ten years; 
and in the absence of which it would be diflicult to say what might 
now have been the condition of our domestic industries, or the financial 
status of the State. Millions of dollars have been retained in the coun- 
try, being used in the payment of wages to our own citizens, and in 
the erection of works and the purchase of articles of home production 
that otherwise would have been sent abroad, to be spent in the pur- 
chase of these commodities as before. By the introduction on our own 
soil of these factories a demand has been created for a long catalogue 
of articles and products that otherwise would have lacked a market. 

The value of the various articles manufactui'ed in San Francisco, 
during the year 1866, is estimated at over $20,000,000; the aggi-egate 
product of the whole State having been about §30,000,000. By virtue 
of her position, California will be able to supply such manufactui-ed 
goods as Western Mexico, Central America, China, Japan, and the 
islands of the North Pacific may require, or be able to take of strangers, 
paying for the same in cash, or in such native production as they may 
have to ofier in exchange. In thus supplying these peoples she will find 
a vast outlet for the products of her shops and factories, and secure a 
trade that cannot fail to prove profitable, since it can hardly admit of a 



MANHFACTtTEES. 601 

competitor. "With sucli manifest advantages then growing out of lier 
position, and tlie great natural facilities she enjoys for engaging largely 
and successfully in the business of manufacturing, it becomes evident 
that California is destined to enter early iipon an extensive career in 
this department of industry. Nowhere in the world are the conditions 
for building up readily a vast and diversified interest of this kind so 
favorable as upon the coast of the North Pacific — the extent to which 
our people have already embarked in many branches of the business, 
evincing a just appreciation of these advantages, and a purpose to turn 
them to practical account as rapidly as circumstances will warrant. In 
some respects it must be admitted that California is jplaced to disad- 
vantage as a manufacturing country, though these obstacles and draw- 
backs are limited in their influences, and will probably prove temporary 
in duration. Credits here are short, and interest is high, forcing the 
manufacturer to pay dearly for his capital, and often compelling him to 
press his wares upon the market in advance of consumptive require- 
ment. Owing to the narrow extent of back country to be supplied, and 
the limited outlets available in other directions, care is required that 
manufacturing is not pushed to excess, it being necessary also, while 
preventing prices falling below the cost of production, that they be so 
restricted as not to encourage over importation. 

For a time, too, the California proprietor found it difiicidt to com- 
mand the highest order of skilled labor; its remoteness, the limited ex- 
tent, uncertainty, and newness of its manufacturing industries deterring 
the best class of artisans from leaving profitable and generally permanent 
situations, to seek employment in such a distant and precarious field. 
With the establishment and growth of these pursuits in California, 
however, the best workmen of the Atlantic States and Europe have 
found their way hither in such numbers that it is probable there are 
now here as many of this class, in proportion to the whole number of 
operatives, as in any other country ; the high wages offered bringing 
to our shores frequently the choicest artisans to be found in the most 
famous establishmejits of the Old World. 

"What progress has been made in founding and building up manu- 
facturing industries in California will, in part, appear from the follow- 
ing brief descriptions of the leading establishments in this line of 
business, only a few of the more prominent facts connected with the 
same being here presented. 



602 THE NATUEAI, 'WEALTH OP CALITOENIA. 



WOOLEN ]\nLLS. 

In tlie making of woolen fabrics we hare one of tlae earliest founded, 
and now most extensive and prosperous branches of manufacturing yet 
established in the State — the steady supply, cheapness and excellence 
of the wool grown here giving great encouragement to this line of busi- 
ness. The fabrics turned out by our woolen mills are not excelled by 
those of any other country. Up to 1859 the entire wool clip of Califor- 
nia was shipped abroad for a market. That year, the Pioneer Mills 
starting, used a small portion of it — quite a large quantity being now 
consumed by the several establishments running in the State. At the 
present time there are in California five of these factories, four of which 
are running ; the fifth, located on the Merced river, though completed 
and ready for work, not yet being in operation ; it is, however, to be 
started during the spring or early in the summer of 1868. The erection 
of others are contemplated in difi'erent parts of the State, and there will 
no doubt be several additions made to the present number in the course 
of a year or two, at furthest. Preliminary steps towards the building 
of a Avoolen mill at Santa Cruz, and another at Polsom, have already 
been taken, and will no doubt result in their early construction. 

THE PIONEER WOOLEN TMTTiIiS. 

The first works of the kind ever put up in the State were the Pioneer 
Woolen Mills, erected in 1858, at Black Point, in the northwestern part 
of the City of San Prancisco. Though built in 1858, they did not com- 
mence work till the following year. The first edifices put up by this 
company, though spacious and convenient, being of wood, were unfor- 
tunately burned up in the fall of 1861. Notwithstanding the loss of the 
proprietors, Messrs. Heyneman, Pick & Co., was heavy, the buildings 
being filled with new and costly machinery, selected with great care, 
and ianported from the East, they at once set about rebuilding the edi- 
fice, which was made more spacious than that destroyed, being at the 
same time, for greater safety, constructed Avholly of brick. This mill 
is now owned by a company having a capital of S450, 000. The machin- 
ery consists of eighteen sets of cards, six thousand spindles, seventy- 
two looms, eight mules and fourteen jacks — the whole put in motion by 
a steam engine of one hundred and fifty horse power. Three hundred 
and fifty men, a portion of them Chinese, are employed in the various 
departments. The product of these miUs for the year 1866 was 30, 000 
pairs of blankets, 60,000 yards of broadcloth, tweed and cassimeres, 
and 375,000 yards of flannel; consuming 1,500,000 pounds of fine wool. 



MANTJFACTUEES. 603 

In 1867, there were manufactured 40,000 pairs of blankets, 100,000 
yards of broadcloth, tweeds and cassimeres, and 300,000 yards of 
flannels — 1,600,000 pounds of wool having been consumed. Their 
annual capacity is equal to the consumption of 3,000,000 pounds of wool. 
Large quantities of flannels are made up into shirts — sixty hands, oper- 
ating with sewing machines, being employed at this business. 

THE MISSION ■WOOIiEN MTLIia 

These miUs are also located* in the City of San Francisco, being on 
the comer of Sixteenth and Folsom streets. They are very extensive, 
the buildings pertaining to the establishment occupying, and in good 
part covering, an area of ten acres. These works, erected in 1861, have 
the greatest capacity of any institution of the kind in the State — ma- 
terial additions having been made to them recently. Besides the arti- 
cles designated as being made at the Pioneer mills, they here manufac- 
ture cloakings and traveling shawls. This company have a capital stock 
of $500,000, and employ four hundred and fifty hands constantly. The 
mill is driven by a steam engine of one hundred and fifty horse power, 
and consumes 2, 200, 000 pounds of wool annually. In 1866 there were 
manufactured at this establishment 80,000 pairs of heavy army and 
navy blankets, 125^000 yards of broadcloth, tweed and cassimere, and 
500,000 yards of flannel, besides large numbers of shawls, quantities 
of cloakings, etc. — the gross value of the products of these mills 
amounting to nearly $1,000,000 per annum. The wages paid employes 
for 1867 amotinted to $135, 000. For that year the proprietors report no 
increase of business. For the year ending April 30th, 1867, the value 
of manufactured goods made by the Pioneer and Mission Woolen Mills, 
as returned to the Internal Revenue Department, reached the sum of 
$816, 815. In these returns are not included materials made into gar- 
ments, and given in under the head of clothing. To the blankets and 
flannels made here was awarded the premium medal, at the Paris Expo- 
sition, in 1867, over all competitors from the United States. 

THE PACrPia WOOIiEN MHiLS. 

The Pacific "Woolen Mills, located on Folsom street, between Eigh- 
teenth and Nineteenth, San Francisco, spin only yarns, and manufacture 
knit goods from the same — this being the only extensive establishment 
of the kind on the coast. The main building is 112 by 52 feet, three 
and a half stories high, with numerous outhouses and dwellings for 
operatives attached. These works were originated by Mr. James Rob- 
erts, the capital stock employed $400, 000. The works are driven by a 
steam engine of one hundred horse power ; consume annually 500,000 



G04 THE NATtTtAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEXLi. 

pounds of -wool, all of choice quality, besides 100,000 pounds of cotton 
— value of goods made, 8400,000 per annum ; they are now being 
enlarged to a^ producing capacity of §2,000,000. They employ 24 
■women, 24 -white men, and 42 Chinese, besides from 250 to 300 women 
and girls seaming the goods at their houses, who now turn out daily 
60 dozen shirts and drawers, and 150 dozen of hosiery. Only medium 
and lower grade goods have th^is far been produced, the mills running 
on short time. With the additions now being made, it is intended to 
manufacture goods of the highest and finest grade in this line, and to 
operate the works night and day. The demand for wares of this kind 
is rapidly increasing, and it is questionable if the establishment, even 
when enlarged, will be able to fully meet the raj)idly growing require- 
ments of the coast. 

There was another knitting mill, constructed on a much smaller 
scale, situated in the southwestern part of the city. It started work in 
August, 1866, and made nearly every variety of goods, but was burned 
down the next year. This mill, in addition to the usual carding and 
spinning apparatus, was supplied with a number of Aitkin's patent 
knitting machines, and produced articles of unsurpassed excellence. 

THE MAEYSVUiIiB WOOLEN SlILIiS. 

These mills, situated in the city of Marysville, Tuba county, com- 
menced operations in September, 1867.' They are of limited capacity, 
containing but seven looms, with corresponding apparatus, and make 
only blankets and flannels. They are the property of a company 
incorporated with a capital of $50, 000. 

The establishment of even the above limited number of woolen 
mills, has already had a highly beneficial effect upon a variety of inter- 
ests in this State, besides giving profitable employment to a large 
number of operatives and outside laborers, and tending to reduce the 
prices of the commodities made to the California consumer ; it has also, 
by creating a demand for our home grown wools, protected the sheep 
raisers of the State against the monopoly of buyers purchasing here' 
for foreign markets, and who, by combining to keep down jDrices, often 
depress them below a paying standard. Since the founding of our 
local mills, the prices of wool have not only remained more steady, but 
have materially advanced. Of the 8,600,000 pounds marketed in San 
Francisco city dui-ing the year 1866, our home mills piirchased 3, 200,000 
pounds, showing a large and healthful competition, although there were 
at that time but two mills in operation. Of the 10, 500, 000 pounds dis- 
posed of in 1867, our local establishments took 3,000,000 — a ratio of 



ItANUFACTUEES. 605 

increase that it may reasonably be expected will hereafter be every year 
enlarged. 

COTTON MANUFACTURES. 

The only works in this line on the coast are the mills of the Oak- 
land Cotton Manufacturing Company, situate near Oakland, Alameda 
county. This company was organized in August, 1865, with a capital 
stock of $100, 000, and soon after put up a two-story brick building, 
90 by 45 feet, with three large brick houses contiguous, for the use of 
overseers and workmen. The mill, driven by a forty-horse power 
steam engine, employs about thirty hands, and up to January, 1868, 
had been confined to making shirtings, sheetings, osnaburgs and drills, 
with a species of wool and cotton tweeds. At that time the capital of 
the company was increased to $200,000, with a view to procuring 
machinery suitable for the manufacturing of grain bags, which, it is 
believed, can be made at a profit under the thirty per cent, ad valorem 
duty imposed on the foreign article. The importance of making our 
own bagging will be the more readily appreciated when it is known 
that over $1,200,000 are spent annually in the purchase of sacking 
for the yearly grain crop of the State — being about seveti per cent, of 
its entire value. At present it will be necessary to import most of the 
raw material for this branch of operations ; but there is reason to 
believe that in a short time this can be supplied, at least in good part, 
by textiles of home growth. Flax is now raised here for the seed 
alone, but with a market for the lint, the latter could, and no doubt 
would, be furnished in any required quantity ; and though, perhaps, 
not of the best quality, yet sufficiently good for this purpose. So, also, 
hemp would be grown if this fibre were in large and steady demand at 
fair prices. Thus it will be perceived how large a variety of economi- 
cal ends would be subserved by the making at home of the sacking 
required for our annual grain crop. First, the heaAry money drain 
requisite for the purchase of these articles abroad would be stopped, 
a large additional number of operatives would be given employment, 
and the now neglected business of flax and hemp gTowing, would be 
likely to receive an impulse that would render it both permanent and, 
profitable. 

The Oakland Cotton Mills have heretofore run thirty-two looms. 
In 1866 they consumed 100,000 pounds of cotton, and in 1867, 125,000 
pounds — about 30,000 yards of shirting having been made monthly. 
The total product for the year 1866 was 100, 000 yards of shirting, and 
50,000 yards of brown sheeting — the latter mostly for the Mexican 



606 • THE NATXIEAL 'WEALTH OP CALI^OR^^A. 

market, besides large quantities of 4-4 cotton clotli for flour sacks. 
The raw material for this establishment is obtained mostly from the 
Atlantic States, a little also having been procured from Mexico and 
other foreign countries. The amount of cotton produced in California 
thus far has been limited to a few bales of inferior quality, no special 
efforts having been made to grow it under the low prices lately ruling. 

There is but a single establishment for making cotton-wadding in 
this country, that of J. C. Mayer & Sons, situated on Turk street, San 
Francisco. At this factory every description of wadding and batting is 
made, the capacity of the works being 2,000 pounds daily, though 
only about 10,000 pounds were worked up in 1866, and 15,000 in 1867. 
The cotton used is mostly obtained from Mexico and the Society 
Islands. 

Some time since a movement was made by certain parties in San 
Francisco towards organizing a company to put up a carpet factory in 
that city; and, although the project remains in abeyance, there is not 
much doubt but that it will be carried to early consummation, as 
more than a million dollars worth of these fabrics are imported into 
the State every year. 

FLOUEING MILLS. 

The annual wheat crop of California, during the past three years, is 
estimated as follows, viz: At 11, 579, 127 bushels for 1865; at 14000,000 
bushels for 1866, and at 15,000,000 bushels for 1867— the prospect 
being that the yield for 1868 will considerably exceed that of any of 
the three preceding years. For several years prior to 1865 large quan- 
tities of breadstuffs were imported into the State; and eighteen years 
ago scarcely any wheat was raised in California, but comparatively 
little having been grown for a number of years thereafter. The flour 
exported from the State in 1866 amounted to 324, 353 barrels, valued at 
$1,870,000, and in 1867 the number of barrels exported amounted to 
520,000, valued at $3,200,000, while it is thought the wheat crop of 
1868 will be much greater than that of 1867, and that our exports of 
flour will be correspondingly increased should there be a foreign 
demand for it. The extreme diyness of the weather during the sea- 
son for the maturing and gathering of the cereal crops, renders Cali- 
fornia wheat the hardest and dryest, as it is also generally the plumpest 
and brightest grain in the world, the flour made from it being distin- 
guished for almost every excellence. 

There were in March, 1868, one hundred and fifty-seven flouring 
mills in the State, ninety of which are driven by water and sixty-seven 



MANUFACTUEES. ' GOT 

by steam. They carry a total of three hundred and forty-six run of 
stone, and cost, in the aggregate, about $3,000,000. They have a 
capacity to make 15,000 barrels of flour daily, or 3,500,000 barrels 
yearly, running full time. 

Of these mills, eleven are situated in San Francisco, each of the 
larger grain growing counties also containing a number, generally pro- 
portioned to their facilities for shipping flour to the San Francisco 
market, or the demands of the local trade. Several new mills have 
been erected in different parts of the State during the past year, the 
largest of these being at Folsom, Lincoln, and Benicia. Sacramento 
city contains three mills, having a joint capacity to make 1,150 barrels 
of flour daily, and as they run a good portion of the time, their annual 
product is large. Stockton has two mills capable of grinding 740 bar- 
rels of flour daily, the quantity turned out annually at these establish- 
ments also being considerable. 

Of the San Francisco mills, the Golden Gate, the largest in the 
city, made in 1866, 90,000 barrels of flour, and in 1867, 100,000 bar- 
rels, 90,000 of which were extra, and about 10,000 of lower grades. 
The National Mill ground during the year 1867, 39, 182 barrels of super- 
fine flour, 56,557 barrels being extra, and 1,805 of Graham flour, mak- 
ing a total of 97, 544 barrels for the year. The Golden Age Mill turned 
out during the year 1867, 66,548 barrels of flour, all extra superfine. 
The Genesee Mill produced the same year 50, 000 barrels, seventy-five 
per cent, of which was extra, balance superfine. The Commercial 
Mill made 38,000 barrels of flour in 1866, and 40,000 in 1867. The 
Capital Mill ground in 1867 what was equivalent to about 35,000 bar- 
rels of flour ; the principal articles made consisting of Indian meal, 
groats, hominy, and feed stuffs. The other mills in the city, all of 
inferior capacity, ground during the same period some fifteen or twenty 
thousand barrels of flour ; the total product of all the San Francisco 
mills, for 1867, being estimated at a little over 400,000 barrels, worth 
on an average $6 60 per barrel. 

SUGAB EEFINERIES. 

Although both the soil and climate in many parts of California are 
suited to the successful culture of the sugar cane, no efforts at raising 
it on an extended scale have yet been made, the great cost of labor 
forbidding large production where raw sugars can be obtained at such 
low rates from adjacent countries. In some parts of the State, quite 
a quantity of syrup and molasses is annually made from the sorghum, 
or Chinese sugar cane, but as they are of inferior quality, its pro- 



608 TEE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALII'ORNL\. 

cluction is not likely to increase, except, perhaps, at a few points in 
the more remote interior, where it will be expensive to procure the 
refined article. The cultivation of the sugar beet promises to be 
extensively introduced here, measures having been devised looking to 
a large planting, and the erection of suitable machinery for its manu- 
facture. The bulk of the raw sugars for the use of the three refineries 
operating in this State, all being located in San Francisco, are imported 
from the Hawaiian Islands, Central America, Manila, Batavia, and 
Peru. 

The Eefinery of the San Francisco and Pacific Sugar Company, 
the earliest founded of these establishments, was incorporated -in 1855, 
with a capital of $800, 000. The buildings are of brick, very substan- 
tial, and cover a large area. The motive power of these works con- 
sists of a two hundred horse power engine. They are capable of 
refining 24, 000 barrels of sugar annually, and employ about one hun- 
dred and sixty hands. The monthly yield averages 7,000 barrels of 
white sugar, 4,000 barrels of crushed, and 50,000 gallons of syrup. 
The product of this refinery, for 1866, amounted to $2,008,213 ; in 
1867, 16, 000, 000 pounds of raw sugar were worked up. 

The California Sugar Piefinery, also an extensive establishment, 
incorporated in 1867, situated in the southern part of the city, near 
the works of the company last described, has a capacity for using 
about one hundred barrels of sugar daily, or 12,000,000 pounds annu- 
ally. Here a one hundred horse power engine is employed to drive 
the -works, about sixty hands being engaged on the premises. By the 
introduction of certain improvements here introduced, it is claimed 
that the making of crushed or kiln-dried sugar is much cheapened and 
facilitated. 

The Bay Sugar Eefinery, located in the northern part of the city, 
has a capacity for making about 50,000 pounds of sugar daily. 

Though the consumption of sugar on this coast is enormous com- 
pared with the population, these several establishments have a joint 
capacity to refine more than double the amount required for home use; 
wherefore, with a view to adapting the production to the amount actu- 
ally required, they run full time but a portion of the year. The motive 
power used in these refineries amounts in the aggregate to two hundred 
and thirty-five horse power, the working force employed by them when 
in full operation being about two hundred and eighty men. In 1866 
they worked up 22,743,312 pounds of raw sugars, which netted 18,203,- 
100 pounds of the refined article, 670,031 gallons of syrup having been 



MANTIPACTUEES. 609 

made besides. The total amoxint of ra-w material refined in 1867 was 
16,262,861 poimds, the value of the manufactured article being $2,895,- 
249 in currency. During the same year 415,685 gallons of syrup were 
made, as returned to the Internal Eevenue Office, though these returns 
failed to indicate the entire production of that year, syrups having 
been for a portion of the time exempted. The imports of sugar into 
the State, during the years 1865-6-7, were respectively as follows : For 
the first, 29,091,952 pounds, 6,528 barrels, and 24 boxes; for the 
second, 39, 767, 924 pounds, 8,821 barrels, and 31 boxes; and the third 
year mentioned, 35,009,603 pounds, 889 barrels, and 49 boxes— that 
indicated in pounds being foreign, while that coming in barrels and 
boxes was of Eastern importation. Our exports for the same period 
were for 1865, 276,500 pounds, 5 hogsheads, 2,529 barrels, and 4,758 
boxes; for 1866, 480,500 pounds, 10 hogsheads, 3,360 barrels, and 
2,562 boxes; and for 1867, 155,437 pounds, 280 hogsheads, 866 barrels, 
and 2,449 boxes — the quantities expressed, in pounds being sent to 
foreign, and the balance to domestic ports. 

IRON ■WORKS. 

Notwithstanding the consumption of iron has always been large 
in this State and the raw material expensive, no smelting works or 
forges have yet been erected to extract the metal from the ore, or for its 
further preparation for the uses of the foundry and other branches of 
the mechanic arts. Tet, as large deposits of the ores of this metal of 
excellent quality, and favorably situated for working, exist in many parts 
of tlie State, it is reasonable to suppose that works for smelting the 
ores and forging the pig metal into blooms will soon be erected. With 
the inception of quartz milling in California came also a greater con- 
sumption of iron, which, keeping pace with the rapid increase of that 
and similar industries, has at length grown into enormous proportions. 
The use of cast iron pipes for conducting Avater through the mines, the 
extensive gas and water works in many of our towns, and the^ employ- 
ment of this material extensively in building, not only for ornamental 
purposes, but also in making it a part of the superstructure itself, 
while it indicates a large present consumption, but faintly foreshadows 
that which must inevitably attend the rapid development of our natural 
resources that may now certainly be counted upon. Eailroad con- 
struction alone must soon force the manufacture of this article into 
existence on a large scale, since it can beyond question be made in 
many of the remote localities of the interior for much less than the 
cost of transportation from Eastern marts would alone amount to. 
39 



610 THE NATUEAIi WE.VLTH OF C.U.IEOKNIA. 

Heretofore, all demands for this material Lave been met by direct 
importations, or the vast quantities of old iron obtained from discarded 
and worn out machinery, the breaking up of condemned vessels and 
similar sources, the amount thus placed at disposal being large. Still, 
as stated, the requirements on this side the continent must soon attain 
such proportions as will induce the construction of smelting works not 
only in California, but also in other of the Pacific States and Terri- 
tories — a project elsewhere described in this work having already been 
set on foot for the erection of an establishment of this kind on a large 
scale. 

At the present time, there is no other single branch of manufactur- 
ing in California in which even one half as much labor and capital is 
employed as in the several departments of iron working, there being 
about forty of these establishments in different parts of this State. 
[Fifteen of this number are located in San Francisco, while nearly every 
considerable town in the interior has one or more. Several of those in 
San Francisco, as well as the works at Yallejo, Benicia and Sacra- 
mento, are large and complete ; while those at Stockton, Marysville and 
Nevada are of very respectable dimensions. 

The value of the castings turned out at the several works in San 
Francisco, during the year 1867, amounted to over $2,000,000; the total 
number of hands employed being nearly 1,200. Besides supplying 
nearly all the machinery required for the quartz mills and reduction 
works of this coast, the shops and foundries of California manufactvu'e 
much mining machinery for Western Mexico, and also sugar mills, 
pans, etc., both for that country and the Sandwich Islands. 

The following remarks and statistics relative to the leading iron 
works in San Francisco will convey a general idea of their capacities, 
and the amount of work actually performed thei-eat in the course of 
each year : 

FAcrpio eolijIno mills. 

This .immense establishment, located at Potrero Point, in the 
southern part of the city, commenced in August, 1866, and just now 
approaching completion, is the only one of the kind west of the Eocky 
Mountains. These works, projected on a liberal plan, are designed to 
be first class in all their means and appointments, and as the company, 
starting with a capital stock of $2,000,000, possess all the skill, pi^ac- 
tical tact and energy, as well as the capital requisite to success, it is 
believed they will be able to compete successfully with both the East- 
ern and foreign manufacturer. The site of these mills has been well 



MANUPACTUEES. 611 

chosen, being in wiiat must sliortly become one of the great maniifac- 
turing quarters of tlie city. ConTenient to deep water, vessels of the 
heaviest tonnage are able to load and discharge at the company's wharf 
in close proximity to their works. The building for the rolling gear 
covers an area of 150 by 235 feet, the machine shop attached being 
80 by 100 feet, with numerous other smaller structures, the whole being 
built in a massive and substantial manner, and arranged with special 
reference to convenience and expediting operations. These buildings 
are now completed, a portion of them having already received their 
machinery, which is now in operation. In the rolling mill, one of 
the trip hammers, with forge, engine, cranes, and other appendages, 
is set up and at work, there being three other of these ponderous 
implements still to be put in place. The machinery for the works is 
on the ground, and is being adjusted with such rapidity that the whole 
will be ready for operations early in the summer of 1868. Already a 
number of large shafts and other pieces of heavy machinery have been 
forged, the hum of a mighty industry beginning to pervade the whole 
establishment. At these works, shafts for the largest ocean going 
steamers can be made — a feat not heretofore practicable on this coast. 
All the apparatus and appliances are here, of the most perfect and 
powerful kind, the imported portions having been constructed to order 
or selected with the utmost care, at the best establishments abroad. 
The massive steam engine, built at the Pacific Foundry, in San Fran- 
cisco, is a model of strength and superior workmanship. 

At these mills it is intended to manufacture everything usually 
made at similar establishments elsewhere, such as railroad and bar 
iron, rods, plates, and sheet iron of all sizes and patterns, together 
with every variety of sheet and rod copper, and also of brass. The 
company, in addition to their usual line of business, will engao'e in 
forging Lloyd's patent anchor, a California invention of ingenious con- 
struction and great practical value. They will also manufacture plates 
for iron ships — the policy of providing a yard on their premises for 
the construction of this class of vessels being now under advisement. 

Over a thousand tons of old iron were, in March, 1868, lying on the 
company's wharf, having been collected in anticipation of early require- 
ments, and it may fairly be presumed that now this material, instead 
of being regarded as a nuisance and shijjped away, as heretofore, with 
little profit, will be carefully gathered up and retained in the country, 
having, through this new created home market, been converted into 
an article of prime necessity. The existence of these mills will also, 
it may be supposed, encourage an early effort being made to work some 



012 THE NATUEAl WEALTH CP CALIFOENIA. 

of tlae beds of iron ore in tlie State, witli a view of supplying the 
demand for this metal, which must hereafter be constant and large. In 
its effects upon this interest, as well as upon numerous other domestic 
pursuits, the founding of this establishment will be likely to exert 
such a benign influence that it may be regarded almost in the light of 
a public benefaction. The powerful works of the Pacific Forge Com- 
pany, operating near the Mission Dolores, are to be transferred to this 
establishment, to be used in the forging department. 

TTNION lEON WOEKS. 

These works, started in 1849, by the Messrs. Donahue Brothers, 
with but few conveniences, and on a very contracted scale, now rank 
among the largest and most efficient establishments on the coast. As 
there were at that early period neither the material nor the facilities 
for extended operations in this line of business, so also there was then 
but a limited demand for the same ; what little iron work was required 
being mostly imported from abroad. At the start, the foundry blast 
was produced by a blacksmith's bellows ; the supply of material was 
scanty, and the shop tools few and imperfect. These works, so feeble 
in their beginnings, keeping pace, however, with the advance of 
improvements, have since undergone enlargement at various times, 
being now of immense capacity and extent. The number of hands 
employed averages about three hundred. 

The main building, composed of brick, three stories high, has a 
frontage of 187J feet, with a depth of 120 feet ; the area of the prem- 
ises covering nearly 50,000 square feet. In the machine shop there 
are twenty-five lathes, eight planers — one of them the largest in the 
State — together with much powerful drill, cutting, gearing, and shaping 
machinery. In the smithery there is a fifteen ton steam hammer for 
forging purposes. The boiler department is supplied with a self-feed- 
ing punching machine, and also one for performing the operation of 
riveting. A laboratory and an amalgamation room provided for the 
use of miners desiring to test their ores, free of charge, forms a feature 
of these works. 

The first piece of casting ever made in California was run here, 
and here also the first reverberatory furnace, for forging large shafts, 
was constructed. This foundry has, during the past few years, turned 
out considerable quantities of rolling stock for railroads, as well as 
many marine and locomotive engines, and other heavy pieces of ma- 
chinery — the facilities for manufacturing heavy work being great. 



MANUFACTUEES. 613 

MINEES' POTJNDBT. 

This foundry, with machine shops and boiler works attached, aU on 
a large scale, employs about one hundred and fifty men. The works, 
driven by a sixty horse power steam engine, are among the most com- 
plete and capacious in the State. They are amply supplied with every- 
thing requisite for constructing the most massive and complicated 
kinds of machinery, the Miners' Foundry enjoying a high reputation 
for this particular class of work. For several years past the annual 
consumption of pig iron at this establishment has been about 1,800 
tons, together with 300 tons of wrought iron, and 700 tons of coal. 

TOIiCAN lEON ■WOKKS. 

These works give employment to an average number of about one 
hundred and twenty-five men and boys. In 1867 they used 1, 200 tons 
of pig iron, 200 tons of bar and round, together with 100 tons of boiler 
iron, and 25,000 pounds of rivets. 

PACrPIO IKON WOEKS. 

The Pacific Iron Works were erected in 1850, embracing besides a 
foundry, machine, forging, smithing and pattern department, also a boiler 
and wood work shop, giving more than usual variety to the oiaerations 
carried on in this class of establishments. Another feature of these 
works consists of a branch devoted to the making of machine tools and 
apparatus, such as engine lathes, iron planers, drills, shears, etc.— 
implements heretofore mostly imported, always at heavy cost, and loss 
through delay, breakage, etc. Many of the tools, as well as machinery 
in use at this establishment, some of them complicated and costly, were 
made by the proprietors themselves. These works, "which are very 
capacious, covering in great part four fifty-vara lots, employ a force of 
one hundred and twenty-five hands. In 1866 they consumed six hun- 
dred tons of pig, and three hundred and fifty tons of bar and plate 
iron, with seven hundred tons of coal, resulting in productions valued 
at $275, 000. In 1867 the consumption was seven hundred tons of pig 
iron, three hundred and fifty of bar and plate, and eight hundred tons 
of coal; value of products, $300,000. 

Though Messrs. Eankin, Brayton & Austin are now the proprietors 
of these works, the business continues to be conducted under the 
name of the original firm, "Goddard & Co." 

GOLDEN STATE lEON WOKKS. 

These works, with foundry connected, use a twenty-five horse power 
steam engine, and employ on an average about fifty men ; consumed 



G14 THE NATUllAL WEALTH 0? CALIFORNLV. 

in 1S66, seven Imndred tons of jjig iron ; in 1867 consumed nine liun- 
dred tons of pig iron, and six hundred of coal. 



PULTON IKON -WOKKS. 



The Fulton Iron Works, with foundry and machine shop attached, 
employ sixty-five men ; consumed in 1866, four hundred and fifteen 
tons of pig iron, and in 1867, five hundred and fifty tons, together with 
three hundred and fifty tons of coal. 

PHCENIX ERON WOKKS. 

At this establishment are made all kinds of iron doors, blinds, 
safes, vaults, shutters, etc. ; employ twenty men, and worked up in 
1866 two hundred tons of iron ; in 1867, two hundred and fiity tons ; 
annual value of work done being about S50, 000. 

aiTNA rEON WORKS. 

These works are driven by a twenty horse power steam engine and 
employ thirty-two men. Consumption of iron in 1867, five hundred 
tons i^ig and fifty tons wrought ; make the casting of stoves and orna- 
mental iron work a specialty. 

ATLAS WORKS. 

The Atlas "Works, confined chiefly to making iron castings of every 
description for buildings, keep thirty men steadily employed, and 
have a capacity to melt six tons of iron at a casting ; works driven by 
a powerful steam engine, and the establishment, which covers a front- 
age of 47^ by a depth of 175 feet, is supplied with everything requisite 
in the way of models and patterns for conducting a large and diversified 
business. The iron work, both ornamental and substantial, used u]3on 
many of the largest buildings in San Francisco, was cast at this estab- 
lishment. 

THE JACKSON FOXTNDET. 

This foundry is one of the largest of its class in the city, and is 
engaged in the manufacture of stoves, ranges, tinware, etc., supply- 
ing these articles to wholesale dealers. The bodies of these stoves are 
mostly imported, only the fronts and secondary parts, with the furni- 
ture, being made here. Grates, garden and school fui-niture, lamp 
posts and similar articles, are also made in large quantities, being 
always kept in ample supply to meet the wants of the trade. 

EMPIRE FOUNDRY. 

The Empire Foundry makes castings for ornamental and other light 
work, such as leaves, pillars, caps, agricultural implements, gas fix- 



manhfactuees. 615 

tures, scliool furniture, etc. The foundry, of moderate size and capa- 
city, is supplied witli a good steam engine, powerful cranes, etc. 

THE PIONEEB lEOK WOBKS. 

These works, the first in their particular department founded on the 
coast, manufacture iron doors, shutters, safe vaults, etc. ; they employ 
thirteen men; consumed one hundred tons of iron in 1866, and one 
hundred and fifty tons in 1867. 

Sims' Iron Works make the same description of wares as the Pioneer, 
besides wrought iron girders, beams, fencing, etc. ; employ fourteen 
men, and consumed in 1867 about one hundred and fifty tons of iron. 

McAfee, Spiers & Co.'s Boiler Works, recently erected, employ thirty 
men. During the sis months, ending with January, 1868, they had 
worked up thirty-five tons of iron, the products of which were valued 
at $20,000. 

BOILEE WOEKS— SAW AND FILE EACTOET. 

The leading boiler shop of San Francisco is that of Coffee & E.is- 
don — confined exclusively to boiler making — employing thirty-five men, 
and executing over one-third of all the work done in the city. 

The Portland Boiler works consumed about two hundred and fifty 
tons of boiler, plate, and sheet iron, in 1867, giving a product of 
$15,000. 

Among the miscellaneous establishments of the city working chiefly 
in iron and other metallic substances, is the Pacific Saw Factory, 
started in 1866, and which has been of signal advantage to lumbermen 
and wood sawyers, by enabling them to have repairs made and their 
orders filled readily. At these works everything is manufactured from 
the largest circular and gang saw to the most delicate blade required 
by the scroll cutter or cabinet maker, and invariably of a quality equal 
to anything imported. 

Adjoining these works are those of N. W. Spaulding, where patent 
saw-teeth are made, and kept ready to supply the place of those worn 
out or broken. 

The Pacific File Factory, started in 1866, employs ten men, and 
produced, in 1867, wares to the value of $10,000. Besides files of 
every description, and of a quality equal to any known to the trade, 
sections for reapers and mowers are made here, also pronounced very 
superior, it being the purpose of the proprietors to soon supply the 
entire local demand for these articles. 

Besides the establishments above briefly described, there are many 



616 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOBMA. 

smaller iron works in the city, apart from the smitheries and smaller 
machine shops, which, though not of sufficient importance to justify a 
detailed notice in this place, turn out a considerable amount of prod- 
ucts yearly, giving employment to a large aggregate number of work- 
men. 

BRASS FOIINDBIES. 

Of these works there is a large number in different parts of the 
State, the greater portion being located, however, in the city of San 
Francisco. In 1866 more than one half of the requirements of the coast 
were supplied by the products of these home foundries, which are able 
to fill satisfactorily nearly every variety of order in their line. 

The aggregate quantity of brass worked up in the State, outside of 
San Francisco, is about 65, 000 pounds annually ; the quantity of cop- 
per used being valued at about $30,000. The largest amount of these 
metals is consumed at the works of the Pacific Mail Steamship Com- 
pany, Benicia, and at the Navy Yard on Mare Island. 

The principal brass foundry in San Francisco is that of "W. T. 
Garratt, the pioneer establishment in the city. At this foundry the 
first bell ever made in California was cast, this branch of the business 
being still kept up. These works, which employ about thirty men, 
consumed forty tons of brass and copper in 1867— products valued at 
$60,000. 

The Eagle Brass Foundry employs fifteen men; used up in 1807 
twenty tons of brass and copper — yielding products A^alued at $20, 000. 
At this foundry most of the Government ship work on this coast is 
executed. 

The California Brass Foundry, largely engaged in making sheath- 
ing, nails, spikes, and similar wares for use in ship building, employs 
ten men, and consumed in 1866, 4, 500 pounds of brass and copper ; 
and in 1867, 6,000 pounds of these materials, turning out wares worth 
$25,000. 

Dobrzensky's Brass Foundry gives steady employment to twenty 
hands; value of products in 1867, $30,000; copper and brass consumed 
valued at $12,000. Manufactures chiefly gas metres. 

In addition to the foregoing there are several other brass foundries 
in the city, the entire number of men employed at these works being 
about one hundred and sixty. The total annual consumption of brass 
and copper reaches about 160 tons, giving an aggi-egate production 
valued at $260,000. 



MANXn?ACTUEES. 617 



SA"W-MILLS AOT) LTIMBEE. 

A little over twenty years ago there was not a saw-mill in California 
• — ^what little lumber had previously been required having been whip- 
sawed, or, more generally, split or hewed out by hand, the whole of it 
bemg made from redwood, where that timber could be procured. There 
are now four hundred and twelve of these establishments in this State, 
two hundred and seventeen of the number being driven by steam, and 
one hundred and ninety-seven by water power. The aggregate original 
cost of these mills was about $2,700,000. They have a joint capacity 
to cut over 500,000,000 feet of lumber annually — the quantity actually 
cut during the year 1867 having amounted to about 200,000,000 feet. 
For a more detailed account of the extensive mills operating in the great 
lumber region along the northern coast, the chapters descriptive of 
Humboldt and Mendocino counties may be consulted — a list of the mills 
located in each county, with figures indicating their cost, power, capa- 
city, etc., having been given in that part of the work treating of the 
several counties. 

While nearly aU the hardwood lumber used in the State is imported 
from the East, scai'cely a city in the Union is supplied with the several 
varieties of pine, fir, spruce, cedar, and redwood, of better quality, or 
at comparatively cheaper rates, than the City of San Francisco — the 
great entrepot for the lumber trade of nearly the entire coast. Hither 
is shipped the immense product of the mills of Humboldt and Mendo- 
cino — Port Orford and Puget Sound lying to the north, while the red- 
woods of San .Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, on the south, make free 
contributions from that direction. The lumber sent to San Francisco 
from these several sources during the year 1866, amounted, according 
to the books of the Lumber Dealers' Association, to 85,000,000 feet of 
pine, and 55,000,000 feet of redwood, besides 22,000,000 laths, and 
25,000,000 shingles — considerable quantities of spruce and cedar, the 
latter coming mostly from Port Orford, and being considered the best 
material for flooring in use, having meantime been received, in addition 
to the above. The receipts of lumber at San Francisco for 1867 were 
larger than those of the preceding year, though less than the esti- 
mated receipts for 1868. 

WIEE AJSTD EOPE WOBKS. 

The wire and rope works of A. S. Hallidie, the only establishment 
of the kind on the coast, are located in the city of San Francisco. 
They were erected in 1857, and though capable of doing but little at 



618 THE NATUEAL 'WEALTH OF CAXIFOENIA. 

first, are now able to turn out over twelve hundred tons of rope and 
cable annually. The articles made here embrace every description of 
cordage, ropes of a single piece three thousand feet long, and weigh- 
ing nearly forty thousand pounds, having been manufactured. This 
establishment has supplied most of the hoisting works of Nevada with 
the flat wire rope used on their reels, also the cables for nearly all the 
suspension bridges erected during the past ten years in California, 
Oregon, and British Columbia, some of these structures having over 
four hundred feet span. The wire used in these works is mostly drawn 
in the mill of the company, situated at North Beach. 

About fifty tons of iron are woven into screens, sieves, cloth, etc. , 
at the works of H. T. Graves, which give employment to fifteen men, 
and turn out about fifty thousand square feet of vrire work annually, 
four looms being kept steadily running. 

PACIFIC COEDAGE FACTORY. 

This, the only establishment of its class on the coast, was started 
by Messrs. Tubbs & Co., at the Potrero, in the southern part of San 
Francisco, in 1856, since which time it has been in operation with but 
little interruption, producing considerable quantities of rope, the most 
of it assorted Manila, and of large size. The rope-walk of this com- 
pany is fifteen hundred feet long, the building comprising the spinning 
department being one hundred feet in length by forty in width. The 
machinery is driven by a steam engine of one hundred and fifty horse 
power, arrangements having been made for enlarging the works to 
double their present capacity, the increasing demand for large-sized 
mining rope having rendered this necessary. For several years past 
fifty persons have been engaged here, the annual consumj)tion of stock 
having been about two million pounds, the most of it imjDorted from 
Manila direct. Latterly, considerable New Bedford cordage has been 
brought from the Atlantic States, this stock having gi-aduaUy obtained 
a preference over the Manila. 

TANNERIES. 

Prior to the settlement of California by our people, and for several 
years after, the hides of the country were all shipped away, there not 
being a single tannery in the State. The quantities shijoped hence were 
immense, these articles constituting the staple exjDort while the country 
was under Spanish and Mexican rule. The first efforts ai tanning, made 
about fourteen years ago, failed of complete success, owing mainly to 



MANUi-ACTUEES. 619 

tlie inferior quality of the bark used, the properties of the different 
kinds not being then well understood. In a few years, however, this 
difficidty was obviated, our tanners having learned to select such bark 
as was well suited to their purposes, of which there is fortunately an 
abundance in many parts of the State. There are now over forty tan- 
neries in California, the total product of which is estimated at nearly 
$800, 000 annually. The number of hides of various grades tanned in 
1867 amounted to about 100,000; the kinds of leather manufactured con- 
sisting mostly of sole, kip, harness and belting, though some calf skin 
and morocco were also made — more attention being now paid to the 
finer varieties than formerly. Of all, except the finer kinds, enough 
leather is now made in the State not only to supply all local wants, but 
a large surplus for exportation — the shipments hence for 1867 having 
amounted to about 2,000 packages, valued at over $100,000. The 
leather of California tan commands the highest prices in all foreign 
markets, owing to the special good qualities imparted to it by the 
siijierior strength and excellence of the tannin used, and the great 
advantages secured to our manufacturers through the long rainless sea- 
son, whereby they are enabled to carry their leather through all the 
necessary processes without interruption. 

The peculiar species of oak that yields this superior tannic acid is 
found in the Coast Eange, extending from near Monterey to a point a 
little north of the Bay of Mendocino. It also grows plentifully along 
the western flank of the Sierra Nevada; therefore, the most of the large 
taruieries in the State have been located at points where the bark of this 
tree can be obtained conveniently, it being liable to waste with frequent 
handlings, while its bulk renders it costly of transportation. The prin- 
cipal leather producing counties comprise Santa Cruz, San Francisco, 
Santa Clara, Sonoma, San Joaquin and Sacramento, though there are 
several others containing one or more tanneries. 

Sajita Cruz contains seven extensive works of this class, the whole 
consuming three hundred tons of bark monthly, and producing 50,000 
sides of sole, upper, and harness leather per year, valued at $300, 000. 
This coimty took the initiative in the tanning business in California, 
the abundance of fine Avater, both for the propulsion of machinery and 
other uses, the excellence of the climate, the proximity of the oak for- 
ests to the town, near where the most of these works are situated, and 
the facilities enjoyed for shipping away the manufactured article, all 
combining to render it one of the most eligible spots ia the State for 
the prosecution of this business. 

There are twelve tanneries in the suburbs of San Francisco, several 



620 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEOTA. 

of them being quite extensive; one of the largest, that of Messrs. "Wolf 
& Co., being carried on in connection with a boot and shoe manufac- 
tory — the latter also an extensive and flourishing establishment. 

POWDEE WOBKS. 

The consumption of gunpowder in this State has been immense 
since the business of vein mining was more extensively entered upon, 
and the plan of using it for breaking down the high banks of aurifer- 
ous detritus has been so freely resorted to ; the inauguration of active 
railroad building having more recently created large and unusual 
demands for this article. The demand for the regions drawing their 
supplies mainly from California now considerably exceeds 200,000 kegs 
annually, a quantity that will be largely increased in the course of a 
few years, unless the use of this explosive shall meantime be super- 
seded by other more cheap and powerfid agents — a result by no means 
improbable. 

There are but two mills in California engaged in the manufacture of 
gunpowder — that of the California Powder Works Company, Santa 
Cruz county, and that of the Pacific Powder Mill Company, at Olema, 
Marin county, the leading facts concerning both of which will be found 
embodied in the respective articles descriptive of these counties. Since 
coming upon the market, the powder made at these mills, owing to its 
superior strength and freshness, has been preferred to the best imported 
brands, their former capacity having been insufficient to fully meet the 
requirements made upon them. After a suspension of several months, 
for the purpose of enlarging the capacity of their works, and introdu- 
cing important improvements, the California Company resumed ojsera- 
tions at their mill in February, 1868, with a view to conducting them 
on a much larger scale than ever before. The two mills now running 
in the State, are capable, together, of producing over one thousand 
kegs of powder daily. 

Since this home made article came into use, the prices, besides 
being reduced, have been preserved from those capricious fluctuations 
arising from an alternately depleted and over-stocked market, and with 
present facilities for manufacture, it is not probable that California or 
the adjacent States or Territories will, for any length of time, be 
dependent even in part upon these distant and uncertain sources of 
supply, except, perhaps, in the matter of the finer and higher-priced 
grades of powder. The advantages enjoyed here for making blasting 
j)owder are such as should hereafter guarantee a full supply of a good 



MANUFACTUEES. 621 

article, at rates not liiglier than tliose now prevailing — $2 50 per keg — 
if, indeed, it may not be expected that prices will gradually tend 
toward lower figures. 

Tlie willow and alder, for making suitable charcoal are found grow- 
ing in the vicinity of the present works. Sulphur being plentiful in 
many parts of the State, can be obtained at low prices ; and, although 
no saltpeter has yet been found in California, the nitrate of soda, a 
good substitute in making blasting powder, and used also sometimes 
in the manufacture of the finer kinds, is procured from Peru at very 
moderate rates, it being abundant in that country. 

FUSE PACTOET. 

This article, being extremely liable to be injuriously affected by 
the moisture to which it is exposed during long sea voyages, is neces- 
sarily more or less damaged when imported for use in California. To 
this circumstance many of the painful and fatal accidents of such fre- 
quent occurrence in the mines are due. With a view to improving the 
quality of this article, and at the same time reducing the price, works 
have been erected at two different points in the vicinity of San Fran- 
cisco for its manufacture. 

PAPEB MILLS. 

Prior to 1855 every variety of paper entering into the consumption 
of this coast was imported; in that year the first mill having been 
erected in this State, the supply began to be met in part by paper of 
home production. There are now two paper mills in California ; one 
situated in Santa Cruz, and the other in Marin county. 

California, aside from its superior climate, possesses some peculiar 
advantages for making paper of every description. The raw material 
exists here in such abundance as to render a supply always certain at 
moderate cost. The waters of our mountain streams, besides being 
ample to serve for propulsive power, are of that soft and limpid char- 
acter so essential -to the production of first class paper. Yery rarely 
in other countries do streams possess that degree of purity so necessary 
for cleaning purposes. 

While our home mills are turning out nearly enough of the coarser 
kinds of paper to meet all demands, we are still largely dependent on 
importations for finer varieties. Were our own mills worked up to their 
full capacity they could make sufficient of every kind to supply the 
domestic consumption, but this is not done owing to the prices, par- 
ticularly of writing and fancy paper, being kept at extremely low figures 



622 THE NATURAL ■WEALTH OF CALIFOENTA. 

througli excessiTe importation. The joint product of the two mills in 
this State amounts to about $260,000 annually. The raw stock worked 
up by them consists of 500 tons of rags, 300 of old rope and 1,000 of 
straw, together with 450 barrels of lime and 4,000 pounds of sulphuric 
and muriatic acids annually. 

GLASS WOEKS. 

The demand for bottles, vials, and the coarser kinds of glass ware, 
was for many years limited in California. With the growth of the wine 
interest, however, the manufacture of chemicals and patent medicines, 
the bottling of mineral waters and the rapid increase in the business of 
preserving fruits, meats and vegetables, the demand for vessels suit- 
able for these purposes has become very large. To meet these exten- 
sive and growing requirements two glass manufactories have already 
been founded in San Francisco. 

The first of these was erected on the Potrero by the Pacific Glass 
Company in 1862, active ojperations having been commenced in June of 
the following year. At these works all kinds of bottle glass except flint 
are made. They give employment to seventy men and boys, and pro- 
duced, in 1866, $72,000 worth of wares, and $130,000 in 1867. The 
establishment contains one furnace with seven open pots for melting, 
it being the intention of the proprietors to largely increase the cajDacity 
of their works in a short time. 

The San Francisco Glass Works, erected in 1866, are engaged 
chiefly in making bottles, jars, demijohns, lamps, chimneys, and drug- 
gist's wares. They also manufacture large sized retorts for use in chem- 
ical laboratories and acid works. They employ about forty hands, and 
turned out in 1867 over $40, 000 worth of wares. 

The white sand required for making the finer qualities of glass is 
procured from Monterey county, where it exists in large quantities; 
the next grade comes from Oakland, Alameda county, while that used 
in making coarser wares is obtained from the hills about San Francisco. 

Besides the above works, there is an establishment in the city 
engaged in making mirrors from French plate glass, about 1, 200 large 
sized pieces of the latter being manufactured annually. Mu-rors are 
also silvered here, and those damaged resilvered. The action of the 
sea air and the dampness incident to long sea voyages is found to cor- 
rode and dim the lustre of the amalgam, materially depreciating the 
value of imported mirrors, rendering an establishment of this kind 
indispensable on this coast. The business of cutting, grinding and 
polishing glass is also well represented in San Francisco by the estab- 



MAmnPACTHREg. 623 

lisliment of Jolm Mallon, wlio has carried it on there successfully for 
the last ten years. 

manhfactuee op salt. 

Between the requirements grown out of the demand for this article 
for culinary uses, for meat packing, the treatment of ores, and the 
northern fisheries, the consumption is becoming large in California. 
The principal sources of supply have thus far been the Alameda and 
Los Angeles salt works, whereat the production is effected by solar 
evaporation, and Carmen Island, on the coast of Lower California, 
with considerable importations from Liverpool. There are sis mills 
in San Francisco engaged in grinding the rough salt, four being em- 
ployed for their owners and two in doing custom work. The quantity 
of salt ground in the city amounts to between twenty and thirty thous- 
and tons annually, the article thus prepared being designed chiefly for 
table use, while the coarse is disposed of in the manner above desig- 
nated. 

SOAP FACTOEIES. 

There are a large number of these works in the State, the greater 
number, however, being located in San Francisco. Every variety of 
the article is made — ^plain, fancy, and toilet ; the raw material being 
abtmdant in all parts of California. * The different establishments in 
San Francisco, numbering some dozen or more, produced in 1867 over 
three and a half million pounds of soap, their capacities being equal 
to the production of ten million pounds annually. These local facto- 
ries not only supply the city and a large portion of the interior, but 
also send considerable quantities to British Columbia, Mexico, Central 
and South America, and the Sandwich Islands. 

In addition to soap, an excellent article of washing powder is man- 
ufactured by one of the companies in San Francisco, the amount made 
in 1867 having reached over three hundred thousand pounds, with the 
prospect of being rapidly increased. 

CANDLE FACTOLOES. 

Ever since the business of underground mining began to be exten- 
sively practiced, the consumption of candles has been large in this State; 
none of the attempted substitutes for this article having proved accep- 
table. For the past six or seven years the quantities used on this coast 
have been enormous, reaching 175,000 boxes in 1864, and increasing to 
over 250,000 in 1867. There are now but two factories in the State, 



624 THE NATUEAl WEAITH OF CAIIFOENIA. 

botli being in San Francisco. Tlieii- joint prodiict is about 15, 000 boxes 
per annum. Several otlier attempts have been made to carry on the 
manufacture of these articles, but all proved failures owing to constant 
heavy importations, and powerful trade combinations designed to crush 
the local manufacturer. One factory, started in 1866, was, after a short 
success, destroyed by fire. In view of the great abundance of raw 
stock and the large consumption of candles on the Pacific Coast, it 
seems a little strange that more of these articles have not been pro- 
duced at home, notwithstanding the temporary obstacles alluded to 
above. That additional factories will be erected, not only in San Fran- 
cisco, but elsewhere in the State, may reasonably be expected, inas- 
much as vein and deep channel mining is constantly on the increase, 
while the imported article often falls short of the standard of excel- 
lence required. 

GLUE FACTORY. 

The largest establishment in the State engaged in making this article 
is that of the Pacific Glue Company, at San Francisco, which, for several 
years past, has produced enough to serve not only home wants but a 
considerable surplus for exportation, thus furnishing, in a smaU way, 
another example of the manner in which California has been able to 
send her products and wares to the very markets whence, but a few 
years since, she drew her supplies. Neatsfoot oil is also made in con- 
siderable quantities at this factory, the material for this purpose, as 
well also as the jDarings of skins, and other parts of animals required 
for making glue, being abundant in California. 

CHEMICAL AND AGED FACTORIES. 

The only two extensive factories of this kind on the coast are sit- 
uated in San Francisco. The older of these, located at the Mission 
Dolores, was founded in 1855, since which time it has been steadily and 
profitably engaged in making all the various articles iised in metallur- 
gic, photographic, and manufacturing establishments, as well also as 
those required in the reduction of ores — all the acids employed by the 
United States Branch Mint having been supplied by these works. 

The Golden City Chemical "Works, located at the corner of 7th and 
Townsend streets, went into operation at the close of 1866. Nitric, 
Sulphuric, and Muriatic Acid, as well as Carbonate of Soda, are manu- 
factured here, and this establishment now supplies the greater portion 
of all the acids used in California. 

There are other Chemical Works in San Francisco, engaged chiefly 
in the manufacture of druggists' materials. 



MAmrFACTUEES. 625 

Most of the crude substances required in these works, including 
sulphur, is obtained in California — the nitrate of soda being brought 
from Chili and Mexico. 

MATCHES. 

There are several factories in San Francisco engaged in making 
these articles ; the total production not being much, if any, less than 
10,000 gross monthly. Six or seven years ago our matches were all 
imported ; now, California exports several thousand gross annually. 
Those made here are mostly of the style known as " block matches " — 
the timber used being exclusively Port Orford cedar, which, besides 
splitting easily, is a light and inflammable wood. 

OIL WOEKS. 

Several establishments have been erected in different parts of the 
State for carrying on the business of expressing, manufacturing, and 
refining the various descriptions of oils, the greater number of these 
works being located in or around the city of San Francisco. Of the: 
latter, the two most extensive are those owned by Stanford Brothers,, 
and Messrs. Hayward & Coleman, engaged in refining the crude petro- 
leum, or earth oil, found in many parts of California. The former of 
these works produced aboiit forty-five thousand, and the latter about 
fifty thousand gallons of the refined article in 1866, less having been 
made the following year, owing to heavy importations from the East, 
and the low prices ruling in consequence. The above, with one or 
two other smaller establishments in the city, have a capacity to distill 
over a million gallons of oil annually, and will probably resume opera- 
tions in a short time. An oil refinery has also been put up at San 
Buenaventura, Santa Barbara county, and another near Gilroy, Santa 
Clara comity, the latter erected several years ago, and though of small 
capacity, has been run for some time with success. 

The crude material for use of the San Francisco works is mostly 
obtained from Santa Barbara county, where, as well as in many oiher 
of the southern counties, it exists in great abundance, and generally 
under conditions very favorable for collection ; the method most com- 
monly adopted for this purpose, being to drive a system of connecting 
adits into the earth in the vicinity of the natural springs, and thus 
gathering the seepage of large areas, conduct it into a reservoir at the 
mouth of the main adit. Most of the crude petroleum found on this 
coast being inspissated and tar-like, is rather more difficult of dis- 
tillation than the products of the Pennsylvania wells ; and, although 
40 



G26 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OP CALIFORNIA. 

it does not make so good an illuminating fluid, it produces a better 
lubricating oil than the Eastern petroleum, while it promises also for 
the same reason to become a greatly superior steam fuel. 

The Pacific Linseed Oil and Lead Works, started in San Fran- 
isco in 1866, and the first and only establishment of the kind in tho 
State, manufacture linseed oil, oil cake, and also express oil from the 
castor bean, mustard, sunflower, rape, and other seed. The mill, driven 
by a fifty horse power steam engine, is large and perfect in all its 
appointments, each department containing every requisite • appliance 
and recent improvement. Since their late enlargement, these works 
employ about twenty men, and have a capacity to crush twenty thous- 
and bushels of flax seed monthly, and to manufacture over three hun- 
dred thousand gallons of oil annually, every variety of oil made here 
being of admitted superiority over the imported. 

There is connected with this establishment a mill for grinding in 
oil, white lead and zinc paints, and for making paints of every variety. 

The Phoenix Works, for refining sperm and whale oils, also located 
in San Francisco, are capable of handling about four hundred gallons 
per day, having refined at the rate of sixty thousand gallons annually 
for the past two years. 

In the fall of 1867 a small mill was projected at Marysville, Tuba 
county, for extracting oil from the castor bean, flax, mustard, and such 
other oleaginous seeds as may be grown and procured in that region. 
Early in the following year this mill had been completed, and was 
about to commence operations under encouraging auspices. 

Heretofore the Pacific miU, in San Francisco, has been obliged to 
import its stock of linseed from Calcutta and other foreign places, but 
it is thought a sufficiency of this seed will be raised in the course of a 
year or two at home to meet all its requirements. Both flax and the 
castor oil bean can be grown in California without trouble, producing, 
when planted in the right kind of soils, certain and prolific crops; and 
now that the farmers have not only a home market for all they can 
raise, but, through the construction of mills, are insured a compe- 
tition likely to maintain prices at a fair standard, it is expected that 
the cultivation of these, and other oil bearing plants and shrubs, will 
be extensively engaged in. 

The mustard seed, which can always be had in this State, yields a 
sweet, limpid oil, valuable for cooking purposes, and even for table 
use, some preferring it to butter, and certain classes making it a com- 
mon substitute for hog's lard. It is also extensively used to adulterate 
olive oil, if the addition of an equally good or better article can be 



MANTJFACTUKES. 627 

called an adulteration, tlie only object in so employing it being its 
•greater clieapness. 

BICE MILLS. 

There are two of tliese establisbments in San Francisco, both driven 
by steam. They each clean about 3,000,000 pounds of this cereal 
annually, though they have a capacity to mill five or six times that 
amount. The quantity imported into California, where it forms the 
chief staple of Chinese subsistence, is about 23,000,000 pounds per 
year, of which a small quantity arrives in the husk, being what is called 
" paddy. " Three fourths of the imported rice is brought from China, the 
balance coming from Calcutta, Siam, Manila, and the Sandwich Islands. 
Usually this grain requires to be put through three operations in the 
process of hulling, though a single one, by the employment of an ingen- 
ious machine of California invention, answers at these mills. By the 
use of this machine, the process is not only cheapened, but the grain 
is less broken. Under existing tariff regulations, seventy-five per cent, 
of the rice brought here is cleaned in China, though it could be done 
more cheaply and elBB^ciently in San Francisco. The only reason that 
any is cleaned here is, that it can be done so much better at our own 
mills, and with greater saving of the grain. 

LIME AND CEMENT. 

The only cement mill in this State is situated at Benicia, for a more 
particular description of which see Solano county. The rock used, 
an argillaceous limestone, is abundant at that place, and also occurs at 
Martinez, on the opposite side of the Straits of Carquinez. These 
Avorks have capacity to make over two hundred barrels of cement daily, 
more than enough to supply the wants of the entire coast. The article 
manufactured here is equal to the best imported, and being supplied 
for a less price ($3 per barrel) than the latter can be afforded at, is 
likely soon to exclude it entirely from the market. These works, which 
were destroyed by fire in the early fall of 1867, having been rebuilt on 
a much larger scale than before, are now turning out one hundred and 
fifty barrels of cement daily. 

Cement works have recently been put up in Oregon, wliich are 
likely to produce a sufficiency of the article for that State and the 
adjoining territories. 

The consumption on this coast, now rapidly increasing, has hereto- 
fore been about thirty thousand barrels annually, the most of it 
imported from the Eastern States. 



628 THE NATURAL WEAITH OF CALIFORNIA. 

The total annual production of lime throughout the State amounts 
to about one hundred and thirty thousand barrels, of which one hun- 
dred and five thousand barrels are received at San Francisco, the 
larger portion of it being made at Santa Cruz. 

LEAD WOEKS. 

The only establishment 'on this coast for manufacturing this metal 
into the various forms required for commerce, is that of Thos. H. Selby 
& Co., in the city of San Francisco. These works, erected in 1865, 
have a large manufacturing capacity, having been projected with refer- 
ence to the future requirements likely to arise. The buildings are 
extensive and substantial, comprising a shot tower, 70 by 80 feet 
square at the base, and 200 feet high. The propulsive power is fur- 
nished by a large steam engine ; working force employed, sixteen 
hands ; value of productions in 1867, §200,000. At these works, not 
only shot of every description, but also minnie balls, sheet lead, and 
lead pipe are made, several hundred tons of the latter having been 
turned out here in 1867. 

About sixteen hundred tons of crude lead are melted up annually, 
the sujjply having until recently been imported. Early in 1868 this 
company erected lead smelting works at Black Point, in the north- 
western part of the city, whereat they are now producing lead from 
argentiferous galena obtained from the mines of the Castle Dome Dis- 
trict, a few miles east of the Colorado river, in Arizona. It is believed 
that the argentiferous galena ores found in many parts of this State 
can also be used to advantage, when facilities shall be afforded for 
their cheaper transportation, as some of them are known to contain a 
large per centage of both lead and silver. 

MARBLE WOPvKS AND QUAEEIES. 

Not until within the last three or four years was the business of 
quarrying, or manufacturing marble, engaged in to any extent in Cali- 
fornia, nearly every thing required in this line having been j^reviously 
imported already made. Much of the material is still imported from 
abroad, the most of it from Italy, and worked here to order; though, for 
several years past, considerable quantities of this stone have been taken 
from the several quarries now open in this State. 

The two principal works engaged in manufacturing marble are 
located in San Francisco, the value of their joint products amounting 
to about §200,000 yearly. The Pioneer Works, driven by steam, 



MAOTJFACTXJEES. 629 

employ on an average thirty-five men — make tombstones, monuments, 
furniture, etc., and import most of their material. At the other yard, 
from twelve to fifteen hands are employed, and about the same style 
of articles are made. 

The first quarry opened in the State was that at Indian Diggings, 
El Dorado county, in 1857, since which time large qiiantities have been 
extracted. It is of the clouded variety, and is much used for memo- 
rial purposes. Near Dayton, Amador county, a quarry of white mar- 
ble, slightly veined, has been opened, and considerable quantities of 
the stone brought to San Francisco, to be used for building purposes. 
Near Columbia, Tuolumne county, is another extensive formation of 
marble, from which large quantities of stone, some of the blocks of 
great size, have been broken out. In Placer county, contiguous to the 
line of the Central Pacific Eailroad, there is a quarry of variegated 
black marble, considered valuable. In Solano county, and in many 
other parts of the State, marble of nearly every description abounds ; 
the only reason that these deposits have not been more extensively 
worked, being the very limited demand for the article on this coast. 

POTTEEIES. 

There are a number of potteries in and around San Francisco, and 
two or three in other parts of the State. The works at the Mission 
Dolores manufacture, from a clay obtained in Sacramento county, every 
description of stone-ware, and also wares for acid factories, chemical 
works, etc. The establishment at North Beach is engaged chiefly in 
making sewer pipes. At San Antonio, Contra Costa county, there is 
quite an extensive pottery, whereat nearly every kind of stone and 
earthenware is made, the clay being obtained from a bed near by. 
There are also similar works in Sacramento, and at Antioch, -Contra 
Costa county, fire-bricks and crucibles, besides stone-ware, being made 
at the latter, the material therefor being obtained from a seam of clay 
found in the Black Diamond Coal Mine. 

Clays suitable for making not only stone and earthenware, but also 
the finer kiads of crockery as well as fire-bricks, crucibles, etc., are 
found in many parts of the State, and it is highly probable that nearly 
everything required in this line will in the course of a few years be 
supplied by our local potteries. 



630 THE NATURAL WE^VLTH OF CALIFOE^^A. 

BOOTS AND SHOES. 

Prior to 1864 there were no extensive factories for making these 
articles in the State, the business being confined to a few small shops 
doing custom work. 

George K. Porter, of Santa Cruz, for many years engaged in car- 
rying on a tannery at Sequel, in that county, was the pioneer in the 
business, having hired from the State forty or fifty convicts for work- 
ing up the products of his tannery into the coarser kinds of boots and 
shoes. 

All the larger establishments of this class in the State are located 
in or near the city of San Francisco, the leading one being the Pacific 
Boot and Shoe Factory, near the Mission Dolores, founded in 1866. 
The main building is forty by eighty feet, three and a half stories high, 
with a tannery attached, where all the leather worked up is made." 
The entire number of hands employed is one hundred and thirty. 
Steam power is used, and all the latest and most approved styles of 
machinery have been introduced. 

At the factory of Wentworth, Hobart & Co., situated within the 
city, nearly every variety of goods is manufactured; over 11,000 pairs 
of boots and shoes, and about 5,000 sides of sole and upper leather 
being worked up monthly. Hein & Bray employ seventy-five men, 
and turn out daily 78 pairs of kip and calf boots of very superior stock 
and workmanship. Buckingham & Hecht also carry on an extensive 
business in this line, the wares produced by this house being of marked 
excellence. A company of ca.pitalists having recently purchased a tract 
of land near Clinton, Alameda county, are now erecting thereon a large 
factory with houses for workmen. The place is to be named Lynn, 
after the famous cordwainer's city in Massachusetts. 

Notwithstanding the large quantities of boots and shoes manu- 
factured in the State, the importations of these articles have thus far 
continued to increase every year, immense numbers having been sent 
to this market via Panama to be forced off at auction. The imports for 
1865 amounted to 38,875 packages; for 1866, to 47,349; for 1867, to 
66,672 packages. Such, however, is the superiority of the California 
made wares, both on account of the greater excellence of the stock 
and care in the making up, that they have always commanded from ten 
to fifteen per cent, higher prices than the imported article ; and so 
great is the consumption of boots and shoes on the coast that tlio 
business of their manufacture her.e is steadily expanding — the value of 



MAmrFACTUBES. 631 

the wares turned out at domestic factories in 1867 having been esti- 
mated at $550, 000, 

SADDLEET AND HAENESS. 

Both these branches of lousiness, owing to the peculiar requirements 
of the Pacific coast in this line of wares, have been very extensively 
prosecuted in California. The superior model of the saddle and other 
riding equipments found in use here, when the Americans arrived in 
the country, led to their universal adoption by our people, precluding 
the importation of other styles almost entirely. So, also, the harness 
required, being mostly designed for teaming into the mountains, . and 
other heavy service, could be made here to advantage, the leather of 
domestic tan being furthermore preferable to any elsewhere procur- 
able. 

The heaviest manufacturers, and the earliest house to engage in 
this branch of business in the State, was that of Messrs. Main & Win- 
chester, of San Francisco, who, besides their principal establishment 
in the city, extended their trade at an early day to many points in the 
interior ; their energy, and the excellence of the articles made, securing 
to them for a time a large proportion of the trade of the entire coast. 
They are still largely and actively engaged in the business, the force 
constantly employed consisting of sixty men in the saddlery and har- 
ness department, and twelve in the manufacture of whips; the annual 
value of the products turned out at their extensive establishment being 
about $80, 000, equivalent to nearly one half the entire productions of 
the city. There are several other saddle and harness manufactories in 
the city, nearly every considerable town in the interior of the State 
also containing one or more. 

WAGONS, CAEEIAGES, AGEICULTUEAL IMPLEMENTS, CAES, ETC. 

For several years after the American settlement of California, 
nearly every description of vehicle, except such wagons as had been 
brought across the plains, were imported from abroad. For the past 
eight or ten years, however, the manufacture of carriages of all kinds 
has been largely carried on all over the State ; the greater portion of 
light vehicles, such as coaches, buggies, express wagons, etc., as well 
as most of the trucks and drays, being made in San Francisco, where 
the number of workmen employed in this line amounts to about two 
hundred and fifty, the value of the productions turned out annually 
exceeding half a million of doUars. 



632 THE NATUEAL WE-iLTH OF CALrFOE^^A.. 

It happens in regard to certain classes of yehicles, tliat they can he 
made to suit the peculiar service for which they are required better 
here than in other countries, those manufactured in particular parts 
of the State being also generally preferred in those localities to any 
otliers, the makers, from long observation, being better able to adapt 
them to the special business they are to be employed in. Thus, at 
Sacramento, Stockton, and Marysville, the best wagons are built for 
heavy freighting into the mines, while in the mining towns, those best 
adapted for hauling ores are constructed. 

The business is steadily on the increase, and it is not probable 
that many wagons, except the more costly styles of coaches and bug- 
gies, will be imported after a year or two more, nearly every descrip- 
tion of vehicle of domestic make being preferred to the foreign, even 
at a considerable increase of cost. 

At present the home made article supplies about ninety per cent, 
of the entire demand. The manufacture of cars, for railroads and use 
ill the mines, is also fast growing into an important business in this 
State, all the leading railroad companies having large shops of their 
own for making and repairing their rolling stock. A great many of 
these vehicles are also manufactured at private shops in San Francisco. 
This branch of business, though now considerable, is small compared 
with what it will probably be in the course of a few years. 

In view of the heavy cost attending the importation of such bulky 
articles as agricultural implements, it would, at first glance, be sup- 
posed that all required on this coast would be made here ; and such 
would be the case, were their manufacture not prevented, in most in- 
stances, by their being patent inventions. As it is, however, many of the 
more important and cumbersome are now being constructed here, while 
a very large proportion of ploughs, and other more simple implements, 
are made in large numbers, there having been over sis thousand of the 
former manufactured in the State during the past two years. The 
following list indicates very nearly the nmnber and value of these 
implements imported into the State during the year 186G, the impor- 
tations for 1867 having been about the same: 700 ploughs, $91,000; 
300 threshers, $180,000; 1,500 mowers, $150,000; 1,000 harrows, 
$10,000; 500 grain sowers, $15,000; 200 cultivators, $6,000; 200 gang 
ploughs, $10,000; 100 hay presses, $10,000; 1,000 horse rakes, $15,000; 
total, $487,000 ; besides which, great numbers of chums, wheel- 
barrows, scythes and snaths, and a vast nimiber of other farming and 
dairy utensils of secondary importance were imported. 

What was said in regard to the preference given to California made 



MAOTIFACTtJEES. 633 

wagons and harness applies witli equal force to agricultural utensils, 
many farmers being unwilling to use any other than those made in 
their own neighborhood — this being more especially true of ploughs. 
Already a number of our citizens have secured patents for improve- 
ments made in this department of invention, the steam plough prom- 
ising very large gains to the farmer, being the most valuable and 
noteworthy of these California contributions to practical agriculture. 
Improvements have also been made here in the gang plough of such 
value as to warrant their being secured by patent, these implements 
now being made in various parts of the State. 

Threshers, mowers, and reapers, have also been made at several 
places, all of which have given equal satisfaction with those imported. 
It is unfortunate that California grows but few woods well adapted to 
car and carriage making, nearly all the better qualities of hard timber 
employed for this purpose being brought from the Eastern States. 

FUENITIIRE. 

For several years even the most common articles of furniture used 
in California were brought from beyond the sea; and although much is 
now made here, the importations of the more costly kinds of cabinet 
ware still continue to be large. There are several large establishments 
in San Francisco engaged in making and finishing furniture; the most 
extensive of which is that of Goodwin & Co. , whose principal factory 
and depot, situated on Pine street, is four stories high besides the 
basement, and has a frontage of eighty-two feet with a depth of ninety- 
seven feet. It is not only the largest establishment of the kind on the 
coast, but is surpassed only by a few in the leading Eastern cities. 
This firm give employment to one hundred and thirty men, and have 
a capital invested in their business of over one million dollars. They 
expend $500,000 annually in the purchase and manufacture of furni- 
ture in New York and Boston, their sales in 1867 having amounted to 
$800,000, a sum which it is expected wiU be considerably exceeded 
the following year. 

W. G. "Weir also manufactures a good deal of furnittire, employing 
at his shops in Hayes Valley over forty men. The value of wares made 
in 1867 reached $80,000, which the proprietor expects to double in 
1868, having lately added much new machinery and otherwise increased 
the capacity of his shops. 

In addition to these, there are several other smaller establishments 
in the city, the entire number of men steadily engaged in this business 



634 THE NATURAL WE.ULTH OF CALEFORNU. 

being about tlaree liundred and twenty, and tlie total annual value of 
•wares made and completed amounting to nearly lialf a million dollars. 
Of the natural woods most used in cabinet work, the principal are 
Oregon Pine, Spanish Cedar, Eedwood, Sugar Pine, White Cedar and 
California Laurel; this coast not affording any great variety of the finer 
kinds of wood, the most of which is imported. 

MATTING. 

The manufacture of Manila matting commenced on a small scale in 
San Francisco, May, 1866, and since largely extended, has meantime 
served to greatly check importations, while it has reduced the price of 
this article from $1.50 to 75 cts. per yard. The imported is subject to 
a tariif of 30 per cent. ; yet, so greatly superior is the machinery here, 
and the other facilities for manufacturing, over those enjoyed abroad, 
that an intrinsically better article is made, at the same time that the 
price is reduced. The material used, consisting of yarn spun from the 
outside bark of the cocoanut tree, is brought directly from Manila, the 
manufactured matting imported coming mostly from China. 

PIANOS, OEGANS AND BILLIARD TABLES. 

There are but three shops in the State whereat pianos are made, 
these all being in San Francisco. They employ an average of twenty 
men, and have facilities of machinery, etc. , to make two hundi'ed instru- 
ments annually, the actual production being scarcely half that number. 
Jacob Zech, the pioneer maker on this coast, has taken many premiums 
at the several State and other leading fairs, over foreign competitors. 
At these shops all the different kinds of pianos are made, many of the 
square and upright instruments, with iron frames, having been lately 
constructed. The woods used are mostly of California growth, and the 
instruments produced here are said to be equal in tone and workman- 
ship to any made elsewhere, while they stand the climate better. The 
principal obstacles in the way of the successful manufacture in Cali- 
fornia are found in the high prices of labor and the limited market. 

There is but one manufactory of organs in the State, that of Joseph 
Mayer, of San Francisco, established in 1860, and whereat there have 
since been twelve of these instruments made, all of superior tone and 
power, eight of the number having already been set up in leading 
churches in San Francisco. Two of these instruments were made iu 
1867, at a cost of $3, 000 each. The material employed is of California 
production throughout — every part being made on the ground. 



MAJTJFACTUEES. 



635 



There are three shops where billiard tables and their apioendagef? 
are made, in San Francisco. The number of men employed is about 
forty-five ; the value of tables manufactured, about $200,000 annually; 
number of tables turned out being from 120 to 130. Many of the native 
woods of the coast are used in mating these tables. 

BREWERIES AND DISTILLERIES. 

There are about one hundred and twenty-five breweries in the State, 
of which number twenty-four are located in San Francisco. There is 
not a town in the interior of any considerable si^e but contains one or 
more of these establishments, though some are conducted on a small 
scale, making only enough beer to meet the local demand. 

The quantity of malt liquor brewed in San Francisco during the 
year 1866 reached 2,500,000 gallons — the amount made the following 
year having been somewhat larger. Notwithstanding this immense pro- 
duction, the importations continue to be large, having summed u.p 
1,398 hogsheads, 14,110 casks and barrels, 4788 cases, and 360 tierces, 
for the year 1867. The malt is made wholly from California barley, 
while most of the hops now used are also of home growth. 

While there are numerous small distilleries in the State, the two 
leading ones, at which three fourths of all the spirits manufactured are 
made, are located in San Francisco. 

The works of J. Dows & Co., established fourteen years ago, have a 
daily capacity to make 1,000 gallons of pure spirits, to the production 
of which they are chiefly confined. The Pacific Distillery turned out, 
in 1867, 133,000 gallons of spirits, though it is capable of making 
more than four times that amount. The capacity of all the distilleries 
in San Francisco is set down at about 1,000,000 gallons per anmim ; 
the entire product for 1867 having been 700,000 gallons, as against 
430,000 the preceding year. The material used for distillation consists 
of barley, wheat, Indian corn, and rice ; Sandwich Island molasses 
being substituted when these cereals are scarce, or unusually costly. 

BROOMS, Al^D BROOM CORN. 

As already remarked, broom corn thrives on most of the rich allu- 
vial lands of the State, the stalk growing vigorously, and the brush 
being straight, clean and heavy. The tule lands, where sufficiently 
dry, are especially adapted to its culture. The growing of this cane, 
entered upon some eight or ten years ago, is every year extending. 



636 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

patclies of it being raised in nearly every agricultural county of the State 
— ^Yuba, Sutter, and Butte taking the lead. 

There are now fifteen broom factories in California, ten of which 
are located in San Francisco. Some of these factories are extensive, 
while others are on a small scale, the whole number of brooms made in 
the State, during the year 1867, having been 40, 000 dozen, valued at 
$150,000, The price of the corn ranges from $50 to $65 per ton, and 
of the brooms, from $3 to $6 per dozen, according to quality. With 
this extensive growth and home manufacture, everything in this line 
has ceased to be imported, California having a large yearly surplus to 
spare, which finds a market in all the adjacent States and Territories, 
many also being sent to British Columbia, the Amoor river, China, 
Australia, Sandwich Islands, Mexico, etc. 

WOOD AND WILLOW WAEE. 

There are two wooden ware factories in the State, both being in 
San Francisco. They employ about eighty hands, are driven by steam 
power, make every variety of article common in their line, and, it is 
conceded, of a quality equal to those imported ; the quantity of which 
has been greatly diminished, some descriptions being wholly discon- 
tinued since the starting of these local factories, which have also 
reduced prices fully twenty-five per cent. The material used consists 
mostly of pine, cedar, and redwood; of California and Oregon growth, 
about 2, 600 cords of which, besides 100, 000 hazel hoops for powder 
kegs, eighty tons of hoop iron bands, and large quantities of othei 
materials are consumed annually. The cheapness and excellence of 
the stock required for making these wares will always be such as to 
give the Pacific coast factories great advantages over those in most other 
countries. The two San Francisco establishments turned out during 
the year 1867, 80,000 tubs; 8,000 dozen pails; 2,400 dozen washboards; 
180, 000 broom handles, and 70, 000 powder kegs, besides large quanti- 
ties of other wares pertinent to the trade. 

CLOTHING, SHTEITS, ETC. 

The value of these articles manufactured annually in this State 
amounts to about one and a quarter million dollars. The greater j)or- 
tion of them is made in the city of San Francisco, where there are 
four or five firms and companies engaged in the business. They depend 
chiefly on the local woolen mills for their fabrics, and as these are of 
admitted superiority, the clothing made is always of marked excellence, 



MANTIFACTUKES. 637 

commanding extremely high prices. Most of the larger clothing man- 
ufacturers include shirtmaking in their business, though there are two 
or three establishments confined -wholly to the making of these articles. 
The number of hands employed in these several branches is between 
four and five hundred, independent of those working in the tailor 
shops, of which there are a large number in the city. 

CALIPOENIA TTPE FOUNDEY. 

Although the maniifactiire of type, stereotyping, and electrotyping 
has been carried on in San Francisco for several years in a small way, 
not until January, 1867, was the business introduced on an extended 
and systematic plan, when Messrs. Wm. & Geo. L. Faulkner, having 
completed their foundry, entered vigorously on the manufacture of 
type of every description. This firm had for many years previously 
been engaged in importing type and printers' materials, having been 
among the first parties on the coast to embark in the business. Over 
30, 000 pounds of type were turned out at this foundry the first year, 
most of the metal used having been obtained from the mines of 
this State and Nevada. This firm also carries on the business of 
stereotyping and electrotyping in conjunction with the above branch 
of the business, the type on which this book is printed having been 
made at their foundry, as weU also as the stereotype plates taken from 
the same. 

There being about three hundred printing offices on the coast, the 
demand for the supplies in this line is large and rapidly increasing. 
These requirements the Messrs. Faulkner expect to meet with home 
made material, equal in quality, and at prices below that of the imported. 
Already they have furnished full suits of type for most of the newspajDers 
on the coast, and it seems probable that the importation of printers' 
material, heretofore large, will for the future be much curtailed by the 
products of this foundry. 

CIGAE MANHPACTUEES. 

This business is carried on extensively in San Francisco, there being 
over one htmdred shops in the city, employing seven hundred and sixty 
hands, nearly all of them Chinese. The rapidity with which this 
trade has grownup is indicated by the fact that scarcely any cigars were 
made here in 1860, while the number had increased to 11,000,000 
in 1865 ; to 23,500,000 in 1866; and to 35,000,000 in 1867 ; in addition 
to which 4,000>000 Havana cigars were that year imported, and 



C33 TKE NATUEAl WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

nearly as many more smuggled into the country — making an aggregate 
of nearly 45,000,000. If to this is added 5,000,000, on account of 
cigars made in tlie interior, we have a total stock accumulated in the 
country approximating 50,000,000 of these articles within a single year. 

The tax paid iipon cigars made in the State amounted, in 18G4, to 
less than $2,000. In 1866 it reached $212,500; while, in 1867, though 
the manufacture had largely increased, the revemie from it fell off, in 
consequence of a reduction in the excise duty. 

Of the 40,000,000 cigars manufactured in the State during the year 
1867, about 25,000,000 were made from pure seed leaf; 11,000,000 from 
seed leaf and Havana; and the balance from pure Havana. Nearly the 
whole of the raw material used here is imported — the most of it com- 
ing from the Eastern States and Havana ; over 3,000 cases of tobacco 
are imported annually. The experiments made at cultivating this 
plant in California have failed to prove remunerative to the grower, 
or wholly satisfactory to the consumer. The causes of the failure are 
variously attributed to defects in the soil and climate, and to careless- 
ness and ignorance in the curing of the leaf — jiistice, perhaps, requir- 
ing that the agencies of this failure should be about equally distributed 
among the several causes thus assigned for it. 

As our manufacturers have been able to place upon the market, at 
a less price, fully as good an article as that imported from domestic 
Atlantic ports of supply, shipments from the latter have nearly ceased; 
those imported consisting of Havana, brought in under a duty of $65 
per thousand. 

PUES. 

Prior to the American occupation of California, the business of 
trapping and hunting fur-bearing animals, and bartering in their pelt- 
ries, constituted one of the leading pursuits throughout the countries 
west of the Eocky Mountains — San Francisco having been formerly 
one of the centres of this trade on the North Pacific. The men 
engaged in these pursuits were the first to explore these extensive 
regions, and to acquaint the world with their resources and geography; 
their labors having meanwhile enriched the companies in whose 
services they were employed. This traffic, which at one time attained 
to large propiortions, was suddenly curtailed by the discovery of gold 
in California, that event having drawn away most of the employe's of 
these companies, and otherwise interfered to check their operations. 
The latter, however, were still continued on a diminished scale in the 
British and Piussian possessions to the north, though the quantities of 



MANUPACTUKES. 639 

furs reaching San Francisco was mucli less than formerly. Still, about 
$500,000 worth haTe arrived at that market annually, from various 
points on the northern coast and in the interior, the supplies from the 
latter source having been on the increase for the past several years. 
Of the furs reaching that city, about $40,000 worth of the choicer 
kinds are selected and made up to meet the requirements of the domes- 
tic trade, the balance being shipped abroad. These furs comprise a 
very broad range, the more valuable kinds consisting of otter, beaver, 
silver fox, sable, mink, and martin, though the wolf, squirrel, common 
fox, and almost every other wild animal, contributes towards filling up 
the variety. There are three houses engaged in this line of manufac- 
ture in San Francisco, the whole employing sixty-five hands, and turn- 
ing out products valued at about $200,000. 

Since the purchase of Alaska by the United States, the duty on 
Kussian furs having been removed, our local furriers are able to sup- 
ply all home df^mands, at prices that forbid competition. Since the 
acquisition of this territory, a company having a large capital has 
been formed in San Francisco, to prosecute the fur trade in that region, 
a movement that promises to largely increase the products from that 
quarter in the future. 

MEAT PACKING AND CURING. 

This branch of business is now largely carried on, not only in San 
Francisco, but throughout many parts of California and Oregon; the 
quantity of bacon, pork, ham, lard, and salt beef produced increasing 
rapidly every year. Already this coast, which, but a few years ago, 
drew the bulk of these articles from the East, is independent of all 
outside sources of supply, and it seems probable that shipments to 
California will hereafter be small. Swine, it is found, can be raised 
here with great facility, the tule and other wild roots, and the oak 
mast, being" ample, in the localities where met with, to subsist and fatten 
these animals with but little expense or care on the part of the owners. 
For the California and Oregon cured meats, a great preference is gen- 
erally given over all other kinds; the government commissariat, finding 
them more fully up to the requirements of the department, regard 
them with special favor. 

The climate of San Francisco, from its low and equable tempera- 
ture throughout the year, being joarticularly well suited for the busi- 
ness of meat packing and curing, most of the larger establishments 
in this line have been located there. It is estimated that there are 
slaughtered in that city annually 68,000 hogs, of the average weight 



61:0 THE NATUKAL WEALTH OF C.ULIFOE^rLi.. 

of 110 pounds, aboiit eighty per cent, of -wliicli is cured into ham and 
hacon. The number of neat cattle aimually slaughtered is also very- 
large, though a smaller proportion of the meat is smoked or packed 
down. 

DEIED AKD PBESEKVED rEUITS, VEGETABLES, ETC. 

But a few years since everything consumed in this line upon the 
Pacific coast was sent to us from abroad. Now, although we still con- 
tinue to receive certain kinds from the East, the importation of others 
has entirely ceased, and we are exporting considerable quantities every 
year, not only to the adjacent State of Nevada and the Territories be- 
yond, but also to domestic Atlantic ports, our dried fruits being espe- 
cially esteemed wherever they are sent. 

The largest establishment in this line on the coast, that of Messrs. 
Cutting & Co., San Francisco, put up, during the year 1867, 5,000 
cases of pickles; 6,500 of tomatoes; 3,000 of fresh peaches; 3,000 
cases of jellies; 1,000 of jams; 1,000 cases of peas; 500 cases of beans, 
and 2,000 of assorted fruits — making a total of 22,000 cases of these 
articles, besides a proportionate quantity of ketchups, vegetables and 
caimed meats. This firm have a capital of $165, 000 invested in the 
business, and employ, during the active season, over one hundred 
hands, it being estimated that they do over two thirds of all that is 
transacted in this line in San Francisco. 

The business of fruit drying is mostly earned on in the interior and 
bay counties, where the greater portion of it is grown, many nursery- 
men and families curing, besides enough for home use, a quantity for 
market. 

jnSCELLANEOUS MANDTACTUEES. 

Besides the foregoing articles there are many others manufactured 
on a small scale in the State, or which are in other respects of but sec- 
ondary importance. Among these, the following, confined to San Fran- 
cisco, may be enumerated, as most entitled to notice. 

Daniel Callaghan, manufacturer of yeast jDowders, made in the year 
1866, 2,000 gToss, and in 1867, 3,000 gross of this article; besides pro- 
ducing, in the latter year, 90,000 pounds of cream of tartar, and 
250,000 pounds of soda and saleratus. 

A beginning has been made at manufacturing oil cloths, a business 
that can hardly fail to increase, as the consum^Dtion of this article is 
large, and prices of the imported always nile high. Book-binding, 
and the manufacturing of blank books, is extensively carried on — a 
San Francisco firm having erected a shop at the State Prison, where 



MAmiPACTIIEES. 641 

they employ fifty of tlie convicts in tlie different brandies of the busi- 
ness. Over a million dollars worth of coffee and spices are prepared 
in San Francisco annually — about fifty men being employed at the busi- 
ness. A company has lately been formed in that city with a capital of 
$100,000 to carry on the manufacture of chiccory, a root that can be 
gro\VQ with facility in all parts of the State. There are now several 
mills engaged in grinding it, and it is calculated that, after supplying 
all home demands, the State will produce 1,000,000 pounds for export 
the present year. Over half a million pounds of maccarroni and ver- 
micelli are made every year — the home made article being preferred to 
the foreign. 

There are also two shops at which blacksmiths' bellows and similar 
utensils are made ; two gold-beaters' shops ; a large number of manu- 
facturing jewelers; a factory for making buckskin gloves; soap-stone, 
starch, glue, soap-root hair, and straw works; several metalltu'gical 
works, whereat ores of all kinds are assayed and reduced, either on a 
large scale or in small quantities, as practical tests in prospecting 
mines; a number of large assaying establishments, where, besides the 
mere assaying and analysing of ores and metals, the latter are refined, 
parted and run into bars, preparing them for the uses of exchange and 
commerce; two or three companies engaged in laying down asphaltum 
sidewalks, roofs, etc. ; also, others engaged in putting down the Nicol- 
son pavement, with which large sections of the streets of San Fran- 
cisco are now laid; fifteen factories where bags, sacks, etc, are made, 
mostly by sewing machines; two large shops where superior articles of 
cutlery are manufactured, the most of it being made to order; twelve 
extensive cooperages; two establishments for making fire-works, the 
products of which have been found so superior to all others as to have 
greatly diminished importations from China, at least for the con- 
sumption of our own people. In 1867, 12, 000 feet of hose and $10, 000 
worth of leather belting were made, requiring 3,000 sides of leather. 
The hose manufactured here is found to greatly outwear that of 
Eastern make, owing mainly to the superior character of California 
leather. 

Mouldings, stairs, doors, sash and blinds, boxes, looking-glasses 

and picture frames, show cases, etc. , formerly nearly all imported, are 

now extensively manufactured in California — the greater portion being 

made in San Francisco. Early in 1868 a company was formed in that 

city for the purpose of engaging largely in the manufacture of doors, 

blinds, sash and mouldings, intending to start operations in the course 

of a few months. There are several mills in San Francisco where one 
41 



642 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CVLIFOENLV. 

or more of the above branches is carried on — besides a number of 
smaller capacity located in different to^vns of the interior. 

Works have been erected in Marysville, Yuba county, for the man- 
ufacture of pitch, rosin, and turpentine, the raw material being 
obtained by tapping the trees in the extensive pineries that exist 
along the foot-hills of that and adjacent counties. The quantity made 
last year reached but little over twenty thousand gallons, not much 
more thau half the amount produced the preceding year, and scarcely 
one third of what it is expected will be turned out in 1868. The home 
made article is eqiial to the imported, and could be produced in almost 
any quantity and at less price than the Eastern, were it not for the 
cost of freight from the interior to San Francisco, the central market. 

WOBKS PEOJECTED, OR IN PEOGEESS. 

The machinery for a silk factory has been imported into the State, 
and although its erection may be deferred for a time, owing to the silk 
growers preferring to sell their eggs rather than rear the worms for 
making the textile, there is, no doubt, but this mill will eventually be 
put up and run with profit. 

Early in 1838 the Oakland Cotton Mill Company had taken prelim- 
inary measures for putting up in San Mateo county a mill for manu- 
facturing fabrics from flax; and as some three or four hundred acres 
had that year been sown in the bay counties with the seed of this 
plant, besides a considerable area in the interior, it is very probable 
that the proposed mill will in good time be erected. As bags can be 
furnished from flax at about half the cost of burlap sacks, and as the 
construction of this mill will make a market for their lint, the farming 
community will, no doubt, extend to the project every possible encour- 
agement. 

Tlie Natoma Water Company, an association directed by sagacious 
and energetic men, and possessed of ample means, having secured a 
franchise to all the water of the American river, are now engaged con- 
structing a caual of suiScient capacity to carry the entire stream at 
ordinary stages, it having thus been appropriated and made available 
for propulsive purposes. The point selected for diverting the river is 
situated one mile and five-eighths above the to^vn of Folsom, through 
which the canal is to extend, having a fall in this distance of one hun- 
dred and fifteen feet, whereby a three thousand horse power will be 
generated, with the river at its lowest stage, and nearly double that 
amount for more than one half the year — being, it is estimated, equiva- 



MAinJFACTUEES. 643 

lent to tliat which propels the immense factories at Lowell. The canal 
of this company having nearly reached completion in the spring of 
1868, the dam, a substantial structtire to be built wholly of granite, 
was expected to be finished the following summer. It is their design 
to sell portions of the water power to such parties as may be desirous 
of using it for manufacturing purposes; and as this locality is central 
and accessible by railroad, besides being near the extensive granite 
quarries of Folsom, whence the best of building material can be easily 
obtained, there is every likelihood that a large and prosperous manu- 
facturing town will ultimately grow up at this place. 

In reference to the manufacturing interests of California, it may, in 
conclusion, be observed, that under the tendency to cheaper labor and 
capital, the growing confidence felt in the future of California, and the 
expectation of its rapid and permanent settlement, a variety of new 
branches are constantly being introduced, while many of the earlier 
established and more important are being extended. And, yet, so broad 
is this field that some important departments of manufactures have 
thus far been wholly overlooked or are but feebly represented, afford- 
ing here many excellent openings for capital, skilled labor and well 
directed enterprise. 



CHAPTER XII. 

CITY AM) COUNTY OF SAN FEANCISCO. 

Situation, Topography, etc. — ^Early Settlement and Subsequent Progress — Street Grades, 
Public Grounds, etc. — Improvement of "Water Front — Style and Peculiarities of Build- 
ing — Fear of Earthquakes, and its Effects — Cliurches, and Places of Public Worship — 
Theatres, and other Places of Amusement — Scientific, Social, Literary, and Eleemosy- 
nary Institutions — ^Nimiber of Inhabitants — Diversity of Kaces, Ideas and Customs — 
Juvenile Population — Manufacturing Status, etc. — ^Educational System — Public Schools, 
Colleges, Seminaries and Private Institutions of Learning — Value of City Property — 
Municipal Income, Debt and Expenditures — Buildings, Improvements, etc. — Police and 
Fire Departments — Cemeteries, Public Gardens, Homestead Associations — -City Bail- 
road-S — Gas Works and Water Works — ^Markets — Banking Institutions and Insurance 
Companies — United States Branch Mint — ^Advantages of Position — ^Foreign Commerce 
and Domestic Trade — Bullion Products — Passenger Arrivals, etc. 

SITTJATION, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC. 

The city and county of San Francisco embrace one municipality, 
the act of consolidation having taken effect July 1, 1856. The county 
comprises the northern end of a peninsula, about twenty-five miles long, 
formed by the bay of San Francisco on the east and tlie Pacific ocean 
on the west, its entire area covering a space of 26,861 acres, including 
the Presidio reservation, of 1,500 acres, belonging to the general gov- 
ernment. The city occupies the extreme northern point of this penin- 
sula, •which is here about four miles wide, being covered for the most 
part with high hills and sandy knolls, separated by small valleys, 
ravines, and elevated plateaux, the bay being at most points bordered 
by extensive stretches of sand-beach and salt-marsh, or overlooked by 
high hills, terminating on the water side in steep bluffs and rocky 
headlands. The loftier of these hiUs, composed of solid earth and 
rock, A^ary from 250 to 400 feet in height, the sand-knolls being from 
60 to 100 feet high. Owing to these inequalities, the grading of the 
streets has been expensive, and in places long delayed, it being, even 
in densely peopled localities, but partially completed. 



CITY AOT) COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 645 

EAELT SETTLEMENT AND SUBSEQUENT PEOGEESS. 

Prior to 1835 the present site of the city was wholly uninhabited, 
what few people there were in the neighborhood residing at the Presi- 
dio and the Mission Dolores. Vessels entering the harbor anchored off 
the "Presidio, that being the " embarcadero " for the Mission, which 
was then the principal point of business. In the historical portion of 
this volume will be found a sketch of the early settlement of San 
Francisco, the name adopted for the town in 1847, it having previously 
been called Terba Buena, the name still retained by the large island 
in the bay opposite the city. 

Ha-^dng already become an active village, with a population of 
several hundred, the growth of the place, greatly accelerated by the 
discovery of gold in 1848, expanded with unexampled rapidity on the 
arrival of the new immigi-ation, a little more than one year thereafter. 
Its progress has since been steady and healthful, the establishment of 
manufactures, and the unbounded confidence felt in its future, having 
greatly hastened its growth during the past few years. But in its 
recent advancement it has by no means outstripped the requirements 
of its business and jpopulation, both of which have fully kept pace 
Avitli its growth. The city now covers an area more than double that 
occupied by it ten years ago, its population and local industries having 
increased in a ratio even greater than its territorial expansion. 

STEEET GEADES, PUBLIC GEOUNDS, ETC. 

It is unfortunate that the city was originally projected with so little 
regard to regularity, to the natural inequalities of surface and its future 
wants as relates to width of streets, reservation of grounds for parks, 
public buildings, etc. ; owing to which, the inhabitants have already been 
subject to great inconvenience and expense in attempting to partially 
supply these omissions and remedy these defects. Not a street in the city 
conforms in its course to the cardinal points of the compass; the whole 
town standing askew — its grand plot being made of a patch-work of 
surveys executed at different times and apparently without object or 
system. In this manner many of the streets and blocks are cut by 
awkward angles for which there was no necessity, while a large number 
of the streets entering the main avenues from opposite directions 
strike the same at points widely separated, whereby their continuity 
has been destroyed — suggesting, in the miner's phrase, the occurrence 
of a "slide." ^ 



646 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOEOTA. 

For this culpable neglect of system and foresight, no better excuse 
is to be found than the inability of the earlier settlers of the town to 
foresee its future greatness and the reckless indifference of those who 
came after, as to both its appearance and welfare. 

In adjusting the street grades these grave mistakes have been fur- 
ther mutiplied, in an utter disregard of the topography, whereby dan- 
gerous precipices and unsightly chasms have been formed in the very 
heart of the town, through the costly and generally vain endeavor to 
reduce these natural inequalities of the surface. This system, while 
it has operated to the great detriment of property-holders, has in 
numerous instances also resulted in the permanent disfigurement of the 
city. 

So narrow were many of the streets, which it should have been 
foreseen must become great thoroughfares, that it has lately been found 
necessary to widen several of them; while others, in consequence of a 
too abrupt termination, have required to be extended in order to 
accommodate the trade and travel of certain quarters, these prolonga- 
tions causing irreparable defacement to the blocks and streets they are 
made to cross. In those parts of the town more recently laid out many 
of the above mentioned evils have been avoided. The citizens have 
also of late become earnestly interested in the subject of setting apart 
from the Pueblo lands ample reservations for school houses, parks, 
squares and similar purposes; therefore, it seems probable that San 
Francisco will in a short time be noted for the extent of its public 
grounds, if not for the costly style of their improvement. 

The city is already the owner of sixteen squares, ranging in size 
from one acre, or a little more, to seventeen acres — the area of Terba 
Buena, the largest of the number. The most of these squares contain 
four acres each, the area of the whole being 117.45 acres. Although 
nearly all of them are enclosed, only Portsmouth, the smallest of the 
number, and often called by way of distinction the "Plaza," has been 
improved. 

The greater portion of the earth removed in excavating the streets 
and grading lots has been used to fill in the tide lands, of which there 
is a large scope lying east of and in front of the city. Many of the 
sand-hills have also, through the aid of the steam-paddy and a resort 
to temporary railroads, been removed and employed to fill in the water 
lots along the city front, much of the eastern section of the town, com- 
prising some of the principal business streets, standing wholly on 
these made lands. 

In designating the streets, the plan of naming, instead of number- 



CITY AKD COUNTY OF SAN FEANCISCO. 647 

ing or lettering, has been adopted ; in tlie older parts of tlie town, tlie 
cognomens of early settlers having been largely used for the purpose, 
although our more national names, such as "Washington, Franklin, 
Jefferson, Clay, Webster, Scott, etc., have by no means been ignored. 
A few of those appellations common in English and American cities, 
such as Broadway, Front, Market, Main streets, and the like, are also 
found here. The Philadelphia, or rather, perhaps, we should say, the 
botanical plan, of naming the streets after certain well known trees, 
has not obtained to any great extent, the list being confined to four or 
five species. In the southern part of the town, a portion of the streets 
running southeast from Market, the back-bone of the city, have been 
numbered, some of those thus designated being named as well. For 
some of the streets south of Mission bay, names have been selected 
from the several States of the Union, interspersed among which, with 
characteristic confusion, are the names of California counties, and a 
s^jyinkling derived from other sources. 

IMPEOTEMENT OF WATEE PEONT. 

Originally the water along the city front was so shallow, except at 
a few bluff points, that large vessels could not approach within a quar- 
ter of a mile of the shore, necessitating the use of boats and lighters 
for receiving and landing freight and passengers. Soon, however, 
wharves resting on piles were built, extending sufficiently far into the 
bay to admit every class of craft lying along side them. Meantime 
the space between the outer end of these structures and high water 
line began to be filled in with earth, sand and rubbish carted in 
from the city, to which being superadded the surface wash and slum 
of the sewers, a mass of decomposing filth soon accumulated, which, 
besides offending the senses and imperiling the public health, threat- 
ened, by gradually settling outward, to fill up and destroy the harbor. 

With a view to obviate these evils and arrest this danger, the plan 
of building a sea-wall having been determined upon, the construction 
of this work was commenced in 1867, and is now in progress ; the 
intention being to prosecute it as rapidly as the revenues derived from 
the wharves will admit, these having been set aside for the purpose. 
This sea-wall, which is eventually to extend along the entire city front, 
a distance of 8,446 feet, is to be formed of a rocky embankment at 
the bottom, Avith a superstructure of solid granite, and will cost, when 
completed, according to estimate, about two and a half million dollars. 

In the southeastern part of the city, large areas of the shallow waters 
bordering Mission bay have, within the past few years, been filled in 



648 THE natxjTlAI, wealth of califoenia. 

■with solid earth, temporary bulkheads having been constructed to 
retain the mass in place, where necessary. Upon these new made lands 
many large warehouses, brick stores, and other permanent structures 
have been erected, some portions of them now ranking among the most 
thronged thoroughfares in the city. 

STYLE AND PECULIAKITIES OP BUTLDINGS — TEAE OF EAUTH- 
QUAKES, AND ITS EFFECTS. 

The architecture of the city, for a long time exceedingly crude and 
eccentric, has greatly improved within the past ten years, having be- 
come universally more chaste and regular. At first the character of 
the buildings was not only outre in style, but extremely fragile and 
temporary, there being neither the material nor the disposition to 
make them more tasteful, solid, or enduring. For many years no other 
building material than lumber could be had except at enormous cost, 
while the urgent necessities of trade forbade the delay necessary for the 
erection of more permanent structures. The sweeping fires, however, 
and the fear of earthquakes, together with the gradual cheapening of 
more solid material, have at length, not only led to the abandonment 
of this light and flimsy style of building, but has caused it to be super- 
seded by one distinguished for massiveness and endurance. In no 
other city in the Union are the buildings more remarkable in this 
respect than those erected during the last few years in the business 
parts of San Francisco ; nor in this extreme attention to solidity and 
strength have ornamentation and elegance been overlooked. 

Owing to a fear of earthquakes the houses in San Franciscq are not 
built as high as in most other large cities, the greater part of them, 
including the leading public edifices, not exceeding three or four stories 
in height. There is not a brick building of any magnitude in the city 
having more than five stories, and, perhaps, not a dozen having more 
than four, exclusive of basement. Experience does not, to be sure, 
warrant the apprehension of grave danger or damage as likely to arise 
from this cause; no loss of life or serious injury to limb or property 
ever having happened in consequence thereof since the founding of the 
city. Earthquakes are, indeed, of frequent occurrence, one or more 
shocks being felt nearly every year. But with two or three exceptions 
they have been so slight as to cause no alarm — scarcely to attract more 
than passing attention — the majority of them not even being obseiwed 
by most people. Many persons have resided in San Francisco since its 
earliest settlement without being once conscious of the occurrence of 
these phenomena; the only damage arising from which has been the 



CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 649 

throwing down of some toppling parapets, and tlie cracking of certain 
ill-constructed walls, with slight injury on one or two occasions to a 
few newly erected brick buildings, the whole of which was repaired at 
an expense of less than ten thousand dollars — a very inconsiderable 
sum compared with the benefits that have indirectly accrued from the 
fears inspired by these harmless disturbances. 

CHTJECHES AOT) PLACES OF PUBLIC WOESHIP. 

San Francisco contains forty-six churches, apportioned among the 
several religious denominations as follows : Baptist, Congregationalist 
and Jewish, 4 each; Episcopalian, 5; Methodist, 9; Presbyterian, 6; 
Lutheran, 2; Catholic, 10; Unitarian, 1; Universalist, 1; besides which 
there are a number of sects, ten or fifteen in the aggregate, who regu- 
larly worship in public halls, court rooms, and similar places. Two of 
these establishments belong to the people of color, both being com- 
modious buildings and largely attended. The congregations owning 
them are of the Methodist Episcopal persuasion, and number among 
their members many persons of intelligence and wealth. Some of the 
church edifices of San Francisco are costly and imposing structures, 
the expenditure upon several, including cost of site, having exceeded 
$200,000. Besides these places of Christian and Jewish worship, there 
are two Chinese temples in the city, with a number of small chapels 
wherein this people pay their devotions, the temples being used only 
at intervals, as on New Tear's day, and other religious or festive occa- • 
sions. At these times all the rites and ceremonies peculiar to Bud- 
hism are carefully observed, this worship involving, after the wont of 
all Oriental religions, a vast display of barbaric tinsel and studied 
formality. 

THEATEES, AND OTHEB PLACES OF AMUSEMENT. 

There are eight theatres of various grades in San Francisco, one of 
the oldest and largest having early in 1868 been destroyed by fire. 
These institutions have always been well sustained, the jDeople of Cali- 
fornia having, from the earliest settlement of the State, been liberal 
patrons of the drama, notwithstanding the prices of admission to these 
places, much less now than formerly, are more than fifty per cent, 
higher than in any other part of the world. 

The individual receipts of these theatres range from three up to 
twenty thousand dollars per month. For several years past, theatrical 
performances, previously allowed on the Sabbath, have been prohibited 
by law on that day — a restriction that excites much opposition on the 



650 THE NATURAL 'WEALTn OF CAIIFOENIA. 

part of many citizens of foreign birtli. Of these theatres, two belong 
to the Chinese — the performances being in that language, and their 
patrons belonging almost exclusively to that race. Besides the regular 
and legitimate theatres, there are many other places of recreation and 
amusement in San Francisco, such as melodeons, music halls, public 
gardens, etc. ; while of beer cellars, dance houses, and other low places 
of resort, the number is discreditably large. 

SCIENTrPIC, SOCIAIi, LITEEAEY, AND ELEEMOSYNAEY INSTITU- 
TIONS. 

Of these various institutions, societies, and orders, San Pra.ncisco 
can justly boast a large number, considering the youthfulness of the 
city and its comparatively limited population — there being over sixty 
different organizations of this kind, independent of the Masonic and 
Odd Fellows' fraternities, both very efficient andjiumerous. 

Among the associations devoted to the culture of scientific and phi- 
losophical pursuits, the principal are the California Academy of Natural 
Sciences and the German Society of Natural Sciences; the former, organ- 
ized in 1853, and now numbering over eighty members. These institu- 
tions, which comprise among their members most of the leading natural- 
ists, scientists and savans of the State, are justly entitled to the thanks 
of the public for their valuable and gratuitous services in behalf of the 
cause of science and economic industry. To their observations on the 
peculiarities of California meteorology, and their investigations in the 
various departments of natural history and philosophy, including a care- 
ful study of the geology, mineralogy, and botany of the State, our peo- 
ple are indebted for the utilization of many important facts, and the 
dissemination of much knowledge of popular interest and practical 
value. 

Among the institutions of a purely literary, or which partake of a 
literary, social and industrial character, the Mercantile Library, the 
Mechanics' Institute, the Young Men's Christian Association, and the 
Society of California Pioneers, stand most prominent — each of them 
owning extensive and costly buildings, supplied with capacious and 
well stocked reading rooms, large and valuable libraries, and almost 
every other aid and appliance calculated to promote the objects of their 
organization. 

The citizens of San Francisco have ever been noted for their lib- 
eral and ready responses to demands made upon them in the name of 
charity; hence we find the city abounding in well sustained institutions 
of a purely benevolent kind, foremost among which are the Protestant 



CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FKANCISCO. 651 

Orplian Asylum, incorported February, 1851; In 1854 a building was 
erected at a cost of $30,000, to which additions have since been made, 
involving an equal expenditure. The institution contains two hundred 
children, though it has accomodations for fifty more. The Eoman 
Catholic Orphan Asylum, an equally noble charity, contains about 
three times the number of children that there are in the Protestant 
Asylum. This establishment, to which there is attached an extensive 
school, consists of several large and expensive buildings — the whole 
having cost over $100, 000, independent of the valuable tract of ground 
on which they are situated. Among the more notable and meritorious 
of these associations is the Ladies' Protection and Eelief Society, the 
San Erancisco Benevolent Association, the Seamans' Friend Society, the 
State Industrial School, the Prisoner's Aid Society, and the City Alms 
House, recently founded. It may here be observed that the State ex- 
tends a liberal aid to some of these institutions — ^large sums being 
given every year to the Orphan Asylums by special appropriation. For 
their chief support, which involves constant and heavy expenditure, 
however, they have to look to the voluntary services of the philanthro- 
phic, and the contributions of the benevolent. 

Besides these public charities there are a multitude of others of a 
more private kind, almost every nationality having at least one, and 
some of them several organizations designed to aid the needy and suf- 
fering of their own countrymen. Connected with several of these 
societies are large and well conducted hospitals for the reception and 
treatment of persons suffering from wounds or sickness. An extensive 
hospital belonging to the city is always kept full of inmates, invalids 
from all parts of the State making this an asylum in their extremities. 
The municipal authorities, however, have received all applicants with- 
out discrimination or question, notwithstanding no assistance has been 
rendered by the -Various counties, thus shifting upon the metropolis the 
burdens which they themselves should have borne, or should cheerfully 
assist in bearing ; nor has the State, as it was equitably bound to do, 
made any provision for relieving the city of this hardship. The cost 
of supporting this institution is $60,000 per annum, the municipal 
authorities appropriating nearly $6, 000 besides, for the support of a 
Small Pox Hospital. 

The United States Marine Hospital, an extensive edifice erected 
some ten years ago, on a commanding eminence in the southeastern 
part of the city, receives over one thousand patients in the course of 
the year, the average number of inmates being about one hundred. 



6 '2 THE NATUIlAl WEALTH OF CA1IF0EXL\.. 

St. Mary's Hospital, a Catliolic institution, has accommodations for a 
large number of patients, as have also the German and French estab- 
lishments, situated in the southern part of the town. 

In addition to the foregoing, there are many other philanthropic 
and charitable institutions located in and around the city, the most 
prominent of which are the Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind, 
now at the Mission Dolores, but soon to be removed to the fine edifice 
erected for this unfortunate class by the State, on a handsome ele- 
vation near the city of Oakland ; the Magdalen Asylum, on the San 
Bruno road, one mile south of the city, opened about three years ago 
under the auspices of the Sisters of Mercy, and now containing some 
sitty or seventy inmates ; the Woman's Hospital, founded in the spring 
of 1868, by the contributions of benevolent citizens, for the temporary 
use of which a commodious building has been secured in the heart of 
the city ; the Alameda Park Asylum, situated on the Encinal, Alameda, 
designed for the care and treatment of patients suffering from demen- 
tia, and from cerebral and nervous disorders ; and, finally, not to 
enumerate many noble charities more quietly managed, the Home for 
the Inebriate, organized May, 1859, and which, after occupying tem- 
porally quarters for a number of years, has now a substantial brick 
building, located in the northern part of the city, purchased at a cost 
of $7, SCO. The municipal authorities appropriate $250 monthly tow- 
ards the support of this institution. 

NUMBER OF INHABITANTS — DIVEESITT OF EACES, IDEAS, AND 
CUSTOMS— JUVENILE POPULATION. 

The number of inhabitants in San Francisco at the end of March, 
1868, was estimated at 133, 000, including a large transient population. 
Many estimated it at a higher number, but the figures lately given by 
"Langley's City Directory" make it considerably less flian the number 
first mentioned. 

At the beginning of 1848, the city, composed of about one hundred 
small buildings, contained a population of 480 souls, which three years 
thereafter had been swollen to about 20,000. In 1860 the city con- 
tained 56,831 inhabitants, of whom 53,073 were whites, 1,142 colored, 
and 2, 616 Chinese. At the present time these races are apportioned 
as follows: 116,000 whites; 2,500 colored, and 3,600 Chinese, to which 
may be added a transient population of ten or twelve thousand, this 
element always being large in San Francisco. The number of white 
children under fifteen years of age amounts to 34, 710, of whom £0, 008 
are between five and fifteen years old. Seven years ago there were 



CITY AOT) COUNTY OF SAN FEANCISCO. 653 

but 12,116 children in San Francisco under fifteen years of age, 6,890 
of whom were native born. 

In nationality the inhabitants are greatly diversified, being made 
up of almost every race under Heaven, nearly aU the leading countries 
of Europe being largely represented. Owing to this intermixture, a 
strange medley of manners, customs, and languages, as well as religious 
ideas, are noticeable. These different customs prevail in regard to 
the observance of the Sabbath, and also as +o the first day of the year; 
the Israelites consecrating the seventh, and the various Christian sects 
the first day of the week, while the Mongolian races fail to pay atten- 
tion to any. So, also, these several sects and peoples each have a 
new year of their own, which none neglect to observe, this being with 
the Chinese an occasion for general rejoicing. On this day it is their 
wont to settle up all their affairs for the past year, and to discharge as 
far as possible all their debts and liabilities, every person desirous of 
maintaining a good business standing making great efforts to that end. 

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM — PUBLIC SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, SEMINA- 
EIES, AND PBIVATE INSTITUTIONS OF LEAENINa, 

Of its educational system and institutions, San Francisco may 
justly be proud, the whole being designed upon a scale of munificence, 
and sustained with a liberality not elsewhere surpassed. In its public 
school department there were 120 teachers employed during the fis- 
cal year ending June 30th, 1867. The espenditures of the department 
during that time were $209,874 75, the total receipts of the same period 
having been $320,807 57, all but a mere fraction of which, were dis- 
bursed for teachers' salaries, erection o'f buildings, rents, etc. The 
salaries paid teachers range from $600 to $2, 500 per year. The prop- 
erty belonging to this department, including school houses and the 
grounds they occupy, vacant lots, etc., is of great value. Some of the 
school houses lately erected are spacious and elegant structures, being 
v/orth, with the lots on which they stand, from $100,000 to $250,000. 

Besides the public school establishments, there are over seventy 
private educational institutions, a few of which already do, or, it is 
designed shall, partake of a public character. The number of students 
in these various places of learning aggregate something over four 
thousand, many of them being numerously attended, and nearly all in 
a flourishing condition. Twelve of the number belong to or are 
controlled by the Catholics, this portion containing a total of 3,400 
scholars. 

The largest and one of the most numerously attended of these insti- 



654 THE NATtJBAL WEALTH OF CALIPOENIA. 

tutions is the St. Ignatius College, on Market street, an edifice wHch, 
though constituting but one-third the building hereafter to be erected, 
has already cost $120,000, independent of the site it occupies. This 
college is under the direction of the Jesuits, there being a large num- 
ber of priests of this order employed as teachers. 

■ St. Mary's College, also a Catholic establishment, situated four 
miles south of the city, is a costly brick edifice, occupying spacious 
grounds, and attended by a large number of students. 

Of the institutions not under sectarian control the most noteworthy 
is the City College, in which the course of studies, besides the classical 
and other higher branches, embraces many of a more utilitarian kind 
— there being an extensive and well appointed chemical laboratory 
attached to the school in which the pupils are fitted for practical metal- 
lurgists, assayers, miners, etc. The University School, Union College, 
jand several other similar establishments, all occupy a high rank as pre- 
paratory schools, several of them being empowered to issue diplomas, 
conferring the titles usually bestowed by the higher institutions of 
learning. 

Among the noted institutions of the city of a more thoroughly utili- 
tarian character than any yet mentioned, is the California Business 
University, an establishment designed to qualify young men for active 
business pursuits of every description, they being trained and practically 
exercised in all the laws of trade and commerce by actual transactions. 
This school, under the management of Professor E. P. Heald, a teacher 
of long standing in the city, has been eminently successful and popular, 
numbering among its patrons many of the foremost men in our com- 
mercial and financial circles,- by whom it is understood to be held in 
high estimation. A large number of young men now holding lucrative 
and responsible positions in our leading banking and mercantile 
houses, received their early training at this institution. 

There are also a number of seminaries and high schools for the 
education of females, the curriculum of which embraces studies of a 
practical character, the knowledge imparted being of a solid and useful 
rathor than of a superficial and showy kind. 

Several of the religious sects, as the Israelites and Catholics, have 
schools of their own; some of these, belonging to the latter denomina- 
tion, containing from five to nine hundred scholars each. 

San Francisco is weU provided with libraries, the principal of which 
consists of the following, viz: The Mercantile Library Association, 
25,000 volumes; Odd Fellows, 17,000 volumes; Mechanics' Institute, 
11,000 volumes; Young Men's Christian Association, 4,500 volumes; 



CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN PEANCISCO. 655 

Verein, 4,000 volumes ; "What Cheer House, 5,000 volumes; Society of 
California Pioneers, 3, 000 volumes; Public School, 3,000 volumes; Ban- 
croft's Pacific Library, containing over 1,000 works relating to the 
Pacific Coast of North America ; besides which there are libraries of 
considerable size belonging to the several literary, scientific and law 
associations of the city. 

VALUE OF CITY PKOPEETY — MUNICrPAL INCOME, DEBT AND EX- 
PENDITUEES— BUILDINGS, IMPROVEMENTS, ETC. 

The assessed valuation of property in the city for 1867 amounted to 
$96,700,397, of which $53,485,421 consisted of real and $43,214,976 of 
personal property. The revenue accruing for the fiscal year ending 
Jime 30, 1867, amounted to $1,841,753 96, of which $987,105 77 went 
to the State. The municipal debt reaches at the present time the sum 
of $4748,677. 

The municipal expenditures for the last fiscal year were as follows : 

Current expenses $939,285 05 

Permanent improvements 188,073 75 

Interest 213,353 06 

Keduction of debt 354,086 82 

Old claims 71,166 66 

Total $1,766,565 34 

The expenditures on the streets and highways amounted during the 
year 1867 to $1,00^,883 85. The total amount expended on permanent 
improvements in the city was nearly $8,500,000. This relates to every 
class of improvements, such as private buildings, school houses, 
churches, factories, railroads, docks, wharves, etc. The number of 
buildings erected in 1867 was, according to Langley's City Directory, 
recently published, 1,050 — 350 being brick. The present number of 
buildings in the city is, on the same authority, 17,368 — of which 13,511 
are constructed of wood. 

The principal buildings completed during the year 1867 consist of 
tlie Bank of California, the Merchants' Exchange, the Mercantile 
Library Buildings, the Mechanic's Listitute, the Lick House extension, 
Fireman's Fund Insurance, Hayward's, and the Pacific Insurance Com- 
pany's building, all very costly and elegant structures, besides many 
large and costly blocks and stores in different parts of the city. 

Ma,ny extensive and costly improvements have been made within 
the past year or two in the construction of wharves and docks. The 
principal of these consists of the Dry Dock at Hunter's Point, com- 



656 THE NATURAL WEALTH OF CALIFOKNIA. 

menced September, 1866, and to be completed by the end of 1868. 
This dock is to be 465 feet long and 125 feet wide, having sufficient depth 
to float in vessels drawing 22 feet of water. Though excavated for the 
most part out of solid rock, the front is to be covered with heavy blocks 
of cut granite. It is to be supplied with powerful engines, pumps and 
every appliance for securing the greatest efficiency, and will have cost 
when completed over .'jl,200,000. 

The Merchants' Dry Dock Company have lately finished a similar, 
but smaller work, at a cost of about $60, 000. The apparatus here is 
capable of sustaining vessels of 1, 000 tons burden. The Union Lum- 
ber Association are now constructing a dock of considerable capacity 
near Beale street, at a prospective cost of about $150, 000. The improve- 
ments made during the past two years by the Pacific Mail Steamship 
Company, in filling in a large area on the northeastern shore of Mission 
Bay, rank among the most important of the kind yet effected in or 
around the city; 300,000 cubic yards of earth have been used for 
making new ground; the wharves on which the Company's new sheds 
and store houses are located, having required 1,200 piles and 3,000,000 
feet of sawed lumber in their construction. 

POLICE AND riEE DEPARTMENTS. 

The police force of the city is composed of one chief, and one hun- 
dred men — the latter at an annual salary of $1,500 each; and four cap- 
tains, with a salary of $1,800 each ; besides which, Jhere are a number 
of officers deputized for duty in different parts of the city, to look after 
private property, the owners of which pay them for their services. 

In December, 1866, San Francisco abolished the volunteer, and 
adopted the system of a paid Fire Department. This organization is 
one of the best appointed, as it has always been one of the most effi- 
cient anywhere to be found. The working force consists of one hun- 
dred and fifty-six members, officers and men included. Belonging to 
the department are six steam engines with accompanying apparatus, 
two more having recently been ordered from the east, whence all have 
been imported. There are 493 hydrants and 50 cisterns in various parts 
of the city, the latter capable of holding 1,480,000 gallons of water. 
The sum of $112, 000 is appropriated annually for the support of the 
department, including purchase of engines, etc. A fire alarm telegraph 
has also been introduced — the construction and fitting up of which 
cost $20,000. 



CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FBANCISCO. 657 

CEMETEBIES, PUBLIC GAEDENS, AND HOMESTEAD ASSOCIATIONS. 
— CITY EAILEOADS. 

The principal cemeteries in the yicinity of the city are Lone Moun- 
tain and Calvary, both very extensive, the former being beautifully 
adorned and handsomely laid out. There are here many elegant tombs 
and momiments, the site of both these cemeteries being extremely fine, 
commanding an extensive view of the city, bay, the surrounding coun- 
try and the ocean— the latter being but two or three miles distant. 
There are also six other cemeteries in the neighborhood of the city, 
belonging to the Masons, Odd Fellows, Israelites, etc. 

The only public gardens calling for special notice are Woodward's 
and the City Gardens, in the southern part of the town, and embracing 
some eight or ten acres of land each, all handsomely laid out and im- 
proved. At these spots a great many birds, animals and natural curios- 
ities, have been collected, which, with the ample means provided for 
recreation and amusement, render them favorite places of resort. 

There are over thirty Homestead Associations owning lands in and 
around the city — this method of acquiring lots being greatly in favor 
here. 

There are seven city railroads within the limits of the town, the 
whole embracing a linear extent of nearly thirty miles. They are all 
operated by horse power, no locomotives being allowed to enter the 
densely populated portions of the city. Besides these local roads, the 
San Jose railroad enters the city from the south; while connections are 
made, by means of steam ferries, with several roads on the east side of 
the bay. 

The following receipts of the principal city railroads for the month 
of February, 1868, fairly exhibit their average earnings throughout 
the year: Omnibus, $21,693; North Beach and Mission, $10,575; Cen- 
tral, $11,820; Front street. Mission and Ocean, $7,086; Market street, 
$5,909. ^ 

GAS WOEKS AND WATER WOEKS— MAEKETS. 

The San Francisco Gas Company, organized in 1852, is the only 
one of the kind in San Francisco, furnishing all the gas consumed by 
the inhabitants. This company have a capital stock of $6,000,000, 
which has always been sought after, both at home and abroad, as a 
safe and profitable investment. 

Almost the entire supply of water for San Francisco is furnished 
by the Spring Yalley "Water Works Company, formed in 1865, by a 
42 



658 THE NATmUL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

consolidation of a company bearing the same name ■with the San Fran- 
cisco "Water Company, and having a present capital stock of $6,000,000, 
divided into 60,000 shares of $100 each. The sources of supply con- 
sist of Pillarcitos and Lobos creeks, having capacity to furnish much 
more than the present wants of the city require. This water is of 
excellent quality, being taken from pure mountain streams in the Coast 
Eange, south of San Francisco. The company's reservoirs are capa- 
ble of holding enough water to serve the city for many months in 
an emergency. The length of pipe laid down Avithin the limits of the 
city proper extend a distance of seventy-eight miles. 

AVhile there are several large public markets, with a multitude of 
smaller ones in different parts of the towa, the principal establishment 
of this kind is the California and Pine street Market, built in the sum- " 
mer of 1867, at a cost of $200,000. It is capacious, well arranged, 
and admirably adapted to the purposes for which it was designed, 
being open and of easy approach on every side, and centrally located 
with reference to population. 

BANKING INSTITUTIONS AND INSUEANCE COMPANIES. 

At the head of the fiscal institutions on this coast stands the Bank 
of California, organized in July, 1864, under the laws of this State, 
with a capital of $2,000,000, since increased to $5,000,000, on which 
it pays regular monthly dividends of one per cent., being understood 
to have large reserves. Its list of stockholders and officers includes 
many of our leading business men and capitalists, and its broad and 
liberal financial policy, leading to a large and rapidly expanding busi- 
ness, has already given it a commanding influence both at homo and 
abroad. 

The Pacific Bank, also incorporated under the laws of California, 
Tias been in operation for several years, having meantime disbursed to 
stockholders one per cent, monthly dividends on its paid up capital. 
There are several branches of foreign banks located in San Francisco, 
"the home institutions they represent having an aggregate capital of 
$7,000,000. 

Besides these regularly incorporated establishments, there are thir- 
teen unincorporated banking houses in the city, having a total capi- 
tal of about $5,000,000. The funds held by private capitalists, for 
purposes of temporary loans, exceed $10,000,000, while the deposits 
in the several Savings Banks reach the sum of $15,000,000, making 
a total of about $41,000,000 employed for loan pui-poses. There are 
seven Savings .and Loan Institutions in the city, two or three of whicli 



CITY AKD COUNTY OF SAN FEANGISCO. 659 

are doing an immense business, while all are in a prosperous condi- 
tion, -witli a rapidly growing patronage ; tlie smns deposited in these 
places being larger in San Francisco, population considered, than in any 
other city in the world. 

There are ten home Insurance companies in San Francisco, with 
an aggregate capital of about $6,000,000, and thirty-five agencies or 
branches of foreign companies doing business in the city. Their opera- 
tions extend to every class of insurance, and their profits, notwithstand- 
ing a sharp competition, have heretofore been large. 

"UNITED STATES BEANCH MINT. 

At this establishment, located in San Francisco, is made two-thirds 
of all the coin manufactured in the United States. One himdred men 
and three coining presses are kept constantly busy, $242, 000, 000 hav- 
ing been coined here between 1854, the year of its establishment, and 
1867, inclusive — an amount nearly equal to one-half the entire coinage 
of the Philadelphia Mint since its origin in 1793. The business of this 
institution having, however, outgrown its narrow accommodations, the 
Government has purchased a suitable site for a new establishment on 
the corner of Mission and Fifth streets. For this central and every 
way suitable location the sum of $100,000 was paid, much less than its 
actual value at present, and thereon will soon be erected a mint on a 
scale to meet the requirements of the Pacific coast for many years to 
come. 

The law allows one-fifth of one per cent, for wastage on the amount 
of bullion manipulated. How close this establishment has been able 
to work of late years, will appear from the reports of the Superintend- 
ent for the years 1865 and 1866 : 

The whole amount of gold bullion delivered to the coiner, during 
the year 1865, was 2,038,211 ounces, vabied at $37,920,213 31 ; the 
whole amount returned by him during same period was 2,038,106 
ounces, valued at $37,918,257 ; showing a discrepancy of 105 ounces, 
equivalent to $1,956. 

The above discrepancy of one hundred and five ounces, worth less 
than $2,000, is the amount of actual wastage, or the gold lost in mani- 
pulating nearly $38,000,000 — only three and a half per cent, of the 
legal limit. 

The whole amount of silver bullion delivered to the coiner during 
the same period was 563,283.74 ounces, valued at $655,399 26; the 
amount returned by him was 563,223.46 ounces, valued at $655,387 30; 
difference, 10.23 ounces, valued at $11 96. 



660 THE NATUKAL WEALTH OF aUJFOEXU. 

* . . . 

The actual loss in tlie manipulation of over $600,000 worth of silver 
bullion being $11 96. The legal limit of silver wastage is "two thous- 
andths of the whole amount," which would be $1,310 79. The coiner's 
actual loss was, consequently, but nine-tenths of one per cent, of the 
legal limit. The statement of the melter and refiner exhibits a corres- 
ponding nicety of manipulation and diminution of loss — the more 
remarkable as the operations of melting and refining involve a greater 
degree of wastage than coinage. 

The whole amount of gold bullion delivered to this official, during 
the year 1865, was 1,834,524 ounces, valued at $34,130,683. The 
amount returned by him, was 1,834,371 ounces, valued at $34,127,849; 
showing a difference of 152 ounces; loss, $2,833 68. The law allows 
the melter and refiner a wastage of ' ' two thousandths of the whole 
amount of gold and silver bullion" received, which would be over 
$68,000. The actual loss was but four and one eighth per cent, of 
that amount — $65, 000 less than the limit allowed by law. 

The whole amount of silver bullion delivered to him, was 821,704.21 
ounces, valued at $956,164 91; the amount retui-ned, was 826,035.23 
ounces, valued at $961,204 02; the results obtained having been even 
more favorable than those attending the melting and refining of the 
gold. The exhibit for 1866 did not differ essentially in the results 
obtained from that of 1865, only the quantity of bullion coined was 
some $7,000,000 less. 

Of these metals coined at the Branch Mint since its opening in 1854 
to the close of 1867, $236,22^656 81 were gold, and $5,861,957 17 
silver. The niimber of pieces coined amounted to 23,057,233, of 
vi^hich 10,832,651 were double eagles; 335,326 were eagles; 429,308 
were half eagles; 62,100 were three dollar pieces; 314,502 were quarter 
eagles, and 87,502 were dollar pieces. 

The San Francisco Branch Mint derives its crude deposits from the 
several States and Territories west of the Eocky Mountains. Since 1804 
the Denver Mint has absorbed much of the Colorado product — about 
one million during three years — and has taken some fi-om Montana, 
although not equal to the amount received during the same period by 
the San Francisco institution. The following are the approximate 
figures of the bullion received at the Branch Mint, fi'om various locali- 
ties, since 1854, up to and including the year 1867 : From California, 
$201,411,644 73, besides silver partings, $3,140,259 78; from Colorado 
Territory, during 1862-6.3, (none since), $60,152; from the State of 
Nevada, $121,824 37, (the most of the bullion from that State, which 
consist of silver, being sent off in bars) ; from Dacotah, $5,760, 



CITY AIsTD COTINTY OF SAN FKAXCISCO. 661 

(received in 1863); from "Washington Territory, §35,132 94; from 
Idato, beginning in ISQi, $9,657,881 84; from Arizona, beginning in 
1865, $74,237 67; and from Montana, beginning in 1865, $1,129,131 12. 

In 1854, all of the chemicals, acids, alloys, and other supplies used 
in refining, parting and curing, were shipped from the East. Now, 
•with the exception of delicate machinery — sent from the parent Mint 
ia Philadelphia, or imported from Europe, — the supplies are drawn 
from indigenous sources. A San Francisco manufacturing company 
furnishes tlie acids; borax and the other articles of necessary consump- 
tion being also of home production, and furnished at prices lower than 
the imported article. The Miut is characteristically Californian — is 
self-supporting, although its revenue is confined to a coinage of one- 
half of one per cent., and the charge for "parting" gold and silver — ■ 
which, in the language of the Mint Law, — "shall be equal to, but not 
exceed the actual cost of the operation, including labor, wastage, use 
of machinery and materials, " etc. This charge, at the recommendation 
of the present Superintendent, E. B. Swain, was recently reduced from 
fourteen to eleven cents. Among the many other improvements due 
to this officer, is the increase of the Bullion Fund, by which depos- 
itors are enabled to receive the value of their bullion immediately 
after the assay is determined. 

The value of Mint charges are as follows : On bullion, under 300 
parts gold, 3 cts. per otmce ; finer, 300| to 600 gold, 5 cts. per ounce ; 
finer, 600J to 750 gold, 7 cents per ounce ; finer, 750J to 945J gold, 11 
cts. per ounce; finer, 950 and above, no charge. 

The present executive officers of this institution are : Superintendent, 
Eobert B. Swain; Treasurer, T>. TV". Cheesman; Melter and Eefiner, 
J. M. Eclifeldt; Assayer, B. T. Max-tin ; Coiner, William Schmolz. 
With the exception of the office of Melter and Ilefiner, made vacant by 
the death of Walter S. Denio, and filled by his assistant, Mr. Eckfeldt, 
there have been no changes in these officials since 1863. From the 
well known San Francisco merchant who stands at the head of the 
establishment, to his subordinates, the officers seem to have enjoyed — 
as they have doubtless deserved — the fullest confidence of the Federal 
Government and the business community. 

ADVAlfTAGES OF POSITION— F0EEIG:5f COMMERCE AKD DOMESTIC 
TEADE— BULLION PRODUCTS— PASSENGER ARRIVALS. 

Before remarking on the trade and commerce of San Francisco, its 
singularly fortunate geographical position will excuse a brief allusion 
to its advantages in this respect, all of which become strikingly obvi- 



CC2 THE NATXIKAL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

ous, if we but glance at the map of the north Pacific and the countries 
adjacent to it. The natural advantages of this port, growing out of 
its situation and surroundings, point to it as the inevitable entrepot of 
the eastern Asiatic, Japanese, Australasian, and north Pacific trafiic, as 
well as the necessary receptacle of the whole coastwise and inland 
trade of the western slope of the continent. For the greater portion 
of the latter, it is already the depot and principal port of supply, 
though not yet in railroad connection with more than a few of the 
localities consuming largely in the distant interior. It seems to have 
been the intention of natui-e that a truly metropolitan city should grow 
up on the shores of this magnificent bay. Hence, centrality of posi- 
tion, good depth of water, generous proportions, and ample protection, 
have been duly attended to. Standing half way between the great 
bights that cut the continent almost in two, and the Arctic regions 
where it finds an end ; at the outlet of two great rivers which serve as 
communicating channels with and give di'ainage to an imperial realm; 
with other navigable streams and bays connecting, affording further 
facilities for inland traffic; standing on the shores of an outlying ocean, 
fm-nishing highways for easy intercourse with all parts of the world; 
with a climate so genial that none ever complain of heat or cold; so 
healthful that endemic disease is wholly unknown, and, withal, so ener- 
gizing that the human system retains its vigor in an unwonted degree; 
receiving the ice, fiu'S, and fishing products of the frozen north; the 
gold, grain, and mineral wealth of the vast countries that back it on 
the east, and the tropical fruits sent from the south, it seems destined 
to become, at no remote period, one of the great marts and manufac- 
turing cities of the world. 

Whsbi must contribute to secure this end in a marked degree, is the 
fact that San Francisco can have no rival on this side of the continent, 
or, at least, none that it need fear for a long time to come — if, indeed, 
it will not be impossible for any city on the coast to ever become so 
far a competitor as to essentially impair the force of this fact. The 
absence of good harbors elsewhere on the coast, and the interposition 
of mountain bap'iers at most points, cutting off communication between 
tide water and the interior, to say nothing of other disadvantages, 
would be sufficient to prevent any such rivalship ever attaining to 
formidable proportions. This natural superiority of San Francisco, 
already fortified by the construction of a few short railroads extending 
to points in the immediate vicinity, will be immeasurably strengthened 
by the completion of other and more important roads, one of which, 



CITY AND conmnr op san feancisco. 663 

the* Central Pacific, is now being pushed forward with an energy that 
cannot fail to insure its speedy completion. 

With the concentration here of many local, and ultimately of sev- 
eral trans-continental railroads, with powerful steamers traversing the 
ocean in every direction; with the rapid growth of vast and diversified 
industries, and the accumulation of values to the amount of several 
hundred millions, its commercial predominance would seem to be 
already secured. ^ 

But a few years ago California- was dependent on other countries 
for almost its entire supply of manufactured wares, groceries, and all 
other staples of subsistence. With the exception of the precious 
metals, vegetables, fruits, and breadstuffs, it produced but few of the 
common necessaries of life. Its exports, with the exception of bullion, 
were few and unimportant. Ships leaviag San Francisco were com- 
pelled to depart in ballast, there being no available exports for lading. 
Now all this is changed, California sending abroad a great variety of 
commodities, besides its gold and silver, the value of its grain ship- 
ments alone having amounted, in 1867, to $13,000,000. Besides the 
product of its flocks, herds, mines, and soU, it has become an exporter 
of many other kinds of raw material, and to some extent even of man- 
ufactured wares. The extent of its trade, both foreign and local, and 
the rate of its increase may be gathered from the folloAving brief state- 
ments, exhibiting the total imports and exports, arrivals and depart- 
ures, treasure movements, etc., at San Francisco, its principal maritime 
city. 

The arrivals in that harbor from all quarters, including domestic 
Atlantic, domestic Pacific, and foreign ports, during the year 1867, 
numbered 2,677, with a capacity of 909,025 tons, being 520 arrivals, 
and 160,752 tons in excess of 1866, showing a large increase on 
the figures of any preceding year. Of these arrivals, 141,865 tons 
were from domestic Atlantic; 423,272 tons from domestic Pacific, and 
334447 from foreign ports, the largest increase being in the tonnage of 
home ports ; the augmented receipts of coal, lumber, and other coast- 
wise products tending to swell this branch of our commerce. Of for- 
eign arrivals, a large share is composed of steam tonnage, consisting of 
the regular lines that ply between San Francisco and Panama, San 
Juan del Sur, Yictoria, and ports on the western coast of Mexico, the 
aggregate amounting for the year to 152,400 tons. 

The arrivals from otir chief points of supply iadicating the course 
of the import trade were as follows : 



664 THE NATUHAIi WEALTH OP CAUFOEinA. 

Vessels. Tons. TcBscls. Tons. 



Domestic Atlantic Porta 125 114,685 

Great Britain 49 35,555 

France 12 5,719 

Hamburg 7 3,199 

Hawaiian Islands 39 15,050 

China 28 37,168 



Manila 9 6,088 

Malaga 2 673 

KioJaneiro 6 2,265 

Japan 6,628 

Batavia 4 1,632 



Stowing a total of 290 vessels and 255, 666 tons. The receipts of mer- 
chandise, via the Isthmus of Panama, for the y^ars below indicated 
were as foUows: 1863, 28,151 tons; 1864, 31,348 tons; 1865, 24,927 
tons; 1866, 32,866 tons; 1867, 31,769 tons. 

The amounts of money paid on freights of merchandise an-iving at 
the port of San Francisco during the three years ending with December, 
1867, were as foUows : 

1865 186C lacr 

From Domestic Atlantic Ports $3,266,534 $2,537,390 $2,992,475 

From Panama, per steamers 1,886,013 2,250,174 2,144,702 

From Principal Foreign Ports 1,228,355 1,327,417 1,402,874 

From other Foreign Ports 392,990 602,541 400,541 

Total fceights on cargoes $6,774,492 $6,717,522 $6,940,592 

Our exports of merchandise and commodities, being the product of 
California during the year 1867, show a considerable increase on those 
of any previous year, as appears by the annexed table : 

18C5 1866 1867 

To New York, etc $6,270,412 $5,744,384 $6,760,378 

To Great Britain 1,175,658 2,009,262 8,318,642 

To Mexico 2,082,704 1,703,201 1,992,862 

To South America 541,538 381,132 770,509 

To Hawaiian Inlands 748,142 894,891 665,366 

To China 1,233,272 1,518,178 1,325,336 

To British Columbia 1,257,029 1,073,347 978,993 

ToJapan 122,061 123,702 811,063 

To Australia, etc 546,808 2,666,455 62,999 

To Other Countries 575,322 588,466 778,755 

Totals $14,554,406 $17,303,018 $22,465,903 

The value of shipments to New York, as above presented, repre- 
sents both those by sailing vessels proceeding around Cape Horn, and 
by the Panama and Nicaragua steamers. The exports for 1867 were 
made up of a considerable variety of articles, of which Avheat and flour, 
barley and oats constituted the priucipal items. The table appended 
shows the quantity and destination of grain and' flour sent away during 
that year: 



CITT AAT) COUNTY OF SAN FEANCISCO. 



665 



To 


Flotjr. 
bbls. 


Wheat. 

100ft Bk8. 


Eabley. 
1001b ska. 


Oats. 
1001b 6ks. 




248,708 

43,9i7 

106,295 

3,148 

6,867 

J, 134 

4,647 

1,650 

17,509 

84,404 


695,630 

3,786,607 

100,895 

554 

167 

1,829 

4 

3,534 


18,538 

1,929 

357 

27,448 

402 

7,353 

419 

9,536 

2,160 










1,433 




3,330 




3,122 




6G1 




274 




1,281 








70,075 


681 








519,309 


4,059,285 


68,232 


10,782 







The annexed table exhibits the annual and total export of merchan- 
dise and treasure from the port of San Francisco, from 1848 to 1867 
inclusive : 



Tears. 


Merrhandiso. 


Treasure. 


Total. 


1848-50* 


$2,000,000 
1,000,000 
1,500,000 
2,000,000 
2,500,000 
4,189,611 
4,270,516 
4,369,758 
4,770,163 
5,533,411 
8,532,439 
9,888,072 
10,565,294 
13,877,399 
13,371,752 
14,554,130 
17,281,848 
22,421,298 


$60,000,000 
45,989,000 
45,779,000 
54,905,000 
52,045,033 
45,161,731 
50,697,434 
48,970,692 
47,548,026 
47,640,462 
42,325,916 
40,676,758 
42,561,761 
46,071,920 
45,707,201 
44,426,172 
44,365,068 
40,671,797 


$08,000,000 


1851 


40,989,000 


1852 


47,279,000 


1853 

1854 


56,965,000 
54,545,633 


1855 


49,351,342 


1856 


54,907,950 


1857 


53,346,450 


1858 


52,318,189 


1859 '. 


53,173,873 


I860 


50,858,355 


1861 


50,504,830 


1862 


53,127,055 


1863 


59,949,319 


1864 


58,978,953 


1865 


58,980,302 


1866 


61,647,510 


1867. 


63,093,095 






Totals 


$142,525,691 


$841,610,171 


$994,135,862 







These exports include shipments to domestic Atlantic ]Dorts as weU 
as to foreign countries. The merchandise exports for the period prior 
to 1855 are estimated. The same is true of the treasure exports prior 
to 1851. The annual average exports of merchandise since 1848 is 
$7,126,285, and of treasure, $43,080,508, or, combined, $50,206,703. 
During the six years ending with 1867, the United States Sub-Treas- 
urer at San Francisco shipped thence $50,000,000 on Government 
account, making an aggregate treasure export of $891,610,170, from 
1848 to 1867 inclusive. 

» EBthnated, 



GG8 THE NATUBAl WEALTH OF CALirOE>rLA. 

The combined exports of treasure and mercliandise dviring 1867, as 
compared witli 1865 and 1866, were as follows : 

1865 186C 1867 

. Treasure Exports $45,308,228 $44,364,394 $41,676,292 

Merchandise Exports 14,355,399 17,303,018 22,405,903 

■ Totals $59,063,027 $01,667,412 $64,142,195 

The receipts of treasure of San Francisco from all soui'ces, through 
regular public channels during the years 1866 and 1867, were as follows : 

18G6 iscr 

From California and Nevada $38,715,340 $40,927,309 

From California, Southern Mines 5,149,749 4,477; 461 

From Coastwise Ports, Oregon, etc 5,940,536 . 6,192,734 

Imports, Foreign, British Columbia, etc 2,887,028 3,969,322 

Totals $52,692,653 $55,566,826 

To the above sums total should be added about ten per cent, for 
bullion arriving in private hands. From the foregoing table it will be 
seen that there was a very considerable increase in the bullion receipts 
of 1867 over those of the preceding year ; the increase in the receipts 
from the northern mines, over $2,000,000, was mainly due to gains 
made in the State of Nevada, the product of which amounted to nearly 
§18,000,000 for that year. 

The value and destination of treasure shipments from San Francisco, 
during the fourteen years ending with 1867, were as follows : To East- 
em domestic ports, §428,159,455; to England, $150,548,502; to China, 
$55,368,810; to Panama, $7,755,344; to other ports, $9,930,338, making 
a total of $651,762,466. 

The amount of coin transmitted to the interior by Wells, Fargo & 
Company's Express, during the year 1867, was $10,326,639; the amount 
brought by them from the interior during the same time was $5, 340, - 
184, adding $4,886,445 to interior circulation. 

From the foregoing, it appears that the total receipts of uncoined 
treasure from the interior during the year 1867 amounted to $46,257,- 
320, and of coined to §5,340,184, to which add foreign imports $3,968,- 
322, and we have a total of $55,566,826 to represent the receipts at San 
Francisco for that year, total exports for the same period having been 
$41,676,292. 

The army disbursements on this coast during 1867 were, on account 
of Quartermaster's department, 5,810,708.65; Paymaster's department, 
$2,288,142.85, and for Commissary department, $1,671,421.88, making 
a total of $9,770,272.33. 



CITY AOT) COUNTT OF SAN FBANCISCO. 667 

The total receipts of Internal Eevenue in the State of California 
during tlie year 1867 amounted to $6,747,624.87, of whicli $4,021,284.25 
■were derived from manufactures, $1,773,326.46 from incomes, $12,460.- 
73 from legacies, and the balance from various other sources. 

The passenger arrivals by way of the sea for 1867 were 35,683, and 
the departure 20,419, showing a gain of over 15,000. The gain in 1866 
was less than 5,000. Of the arrivals for the past year, 27,500 came by 
the Panama and San Juan steamers, principally from New York. The 
departures by the same steamers were 14,000. The arrivals from Asia 
during the year were 4,300, and the departure 4,500. Our gain from 
Australia was 1,146, from British (Jolumbia 857, from the Hawaiian 
Islands 289, and from Mexico 162. The net gain to the port from all 
sources, by way of the sea, for the ten years endiag December 31, 1867, 
is 115,866. Fully 75 per cent, of the passengers which have arrived at 
this port seawards since 1848 came from the Atlantic States. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS. 

Eailroadj — Central Pacific Railroad— Western Pacific Kailroad — San Jos^ Railroad — Sacra- 
mento Valley Railroad — PlacervUle and Sacramento Valley Railroad — Califomia Cen- 
tral Railroad — ^Yuba Railroad — Northern California Railroad — Various Short Railroads 
— Railroads Recently Commenced — Railroads Projected — Steamship Lines— Ship Build- 
ing — Telegraphs — State and County Finances — Gold Product — ^Fisheries — Immigration 
— Population — Voters — Races, etc. — Chinese in California — Libraries — Literature, 
Journalism, etc. — List of Califomia Publications. 

EAILEOADS. 

After a series of years of disastrous delay, during whicli, thougli 
numerous enterprises were planned but few were carried beyond the 
mere work of projection, the era of active railroad buildiag seems 
about being inaugurated in California. During the session of the 
Legislattire ending March 30th, 1868, a large number of franchises for 
laying down railway tracks in different parts of the State, were granted 
to the various companies applying for the same, the most of whom, it 
is supposed, will at once proceed with the work of their construction. 
There are now about three hundred miles of railroad completed and 
in operation in the State, a very small extent considering the urgent 
necessities as well as unexampled facilities that exist for making these 
improvements. 

CENTEAli PACHTC KAHiKOAD. 

This, though not the first entered upon, is the longest, as it is also 
by far the most important piece of railway yet constructed in the State. 
The Central Pacific is one of the companies authorized hj act of Con- 
gress to build a railroad from the Missouri river to the Pacific Ocean, 
designed to form a part of the road spanning the entire continent. 
Starting at Sacramento, it is to be pushed eastward until it meets the 
Union Pacific road, advancing from an opposite du-ection. This junc- 
tion, it is supposed, will be a little to the eastward of Salt Lake, 



imSCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS. C69 

perhaps iu tlie vicinity of Fort Bridger, 917 miles from its western 
terminus. 

Ground on tliis road was first broke in tlie year 1863. It is now 
complete and in running order a distance of 105 miles, canying it 
over the Sierra Nevada, the most difficult and expensive part of the 
route — and across which many parties, inimical to this enterprise, 
affected to believe it could not be built, or if built that it could not 
be successfully operated. The completion of this section in the most 
substantial manner, within a period much shorter than that originally 
assigned foj it, and its successful operation throughout one of the 
most inclement winters ever known on the mountains, while it attests 
the energy of the company, and demonstrates the entire feasibility of 
the route selected, has wholly dissipated these ill founded forebodings. 

The heavy and expensive work of carrying their road over the Sierra, 
at an altitude of 7, 242 feet, and of cutting fifteen immense tunnels an 
aggregate distance of nearly one mile and a half through solid granite, 
having now been accomplished, this company will find the work of con- 
struction hereafter comparatively easy; the greater part of the route lying 
across a hard, dry and level country, almost entirely free from rocks, 
trees and other obstructions. "With their present working force, over 
eight thousand men and one thousand laules and horses, it is calculated 
that they will be able during the dry season to grade the road-bed and 
lay down track at the rate of about two miles a day until they reach 
the valley of Great Salt Lake, six hundred miles east of the base of the 
Sierra, where the level country begins. It is believed that upwards 
of five hundred miles of the road will be completed by the end of 1868, 
and the whole distance to Salt Lake by the fall of 1870. 

The business of this road has steadily increased from the time it 
was first opened — the gross earnings during the year 1867 having reached , 
as high as $212,000 per month. As it is extended east, commanding 
the traffic of Nevada and Idaho, and ultimately of Utah and portions 
of Montana, its business must be largely augmented, until such time 
as it finally effects a junction with the Union Pacific road, establishing 
unbroken communication by rail across the continent, when it must at 
once expand into the most magnificent proportions. 

Of such moment did the General Government consider the early 
completion of a trans-continental railroad, that it was deemed good 
policy to extend to the several companies undertaking this great work 
a liberal aid in the shape of loans, grants and franchises. To the 
Central Pacific Company was granted a money subsidy at the rate of 
$48,000 per mile on that portion of their road extending east wardly 



670 THE NATUEAl WEALTH OF CALIFOKXLV. 

from the -westem base of the Sierra, and $36,000 on the portion west 
of that point, together with a concession of every alternate section of 
public land lying within twenty miles on each side of their road, 
excepting only mineral lands and tracts to which pre-emption and 
homestead claims had legally attached. The quality of land thus 
secured to the company is equivalent to twelve thousand eight hundred 
acres for each mile of road, less the exceptions above mentioned, the 
timber on the reserved mineral lands being also the property of the 
company. 

The States of California and Nevada have also dealt liberally with 
this coi-poration in gi-anting them moneyed aid or important franchises, 
the former guaranteeing payment* of interest ab the rate of seven per 
cent, for twenty years on the company's bonds to the amount of §1, 500, - 
000 — the city and countv of San Francisco having made a free gift to 
them of $400, 000, while several other counties through which their 
road runs have in like manner aided them by liberal subscriptions to 
their capital stock. 

The immediate available assets of this company for the prosecution 
of their road have, therefore, been. Government bonds issued at the 
rates above mentioned on such portion of their work as is already 
finished — $1, 500, 000 of their bonds on which the State pays interest, 
and $400,000 San Francisco bonds already issued to them; their pros- 
pective means being, as the work progresses, $48,000 per mile first 
mortgage bonds, and United States bonds to an equal amount, making 
an aggregate of $96, 000 per mile — almost enough, with the company's 
tact and prudent management, to defray the cost of grading and lay- 
ing down the superstructure of their road. In lieu of these miinificent 
gifts and subsidies, of which this company have shown themselves not 
.(Undeserving, they are bound to transport troops and munitions of war, 
carry certain mails, and perform other service for the General Govern- 
ment at stipulated rates. 

The following figures and data exhibt the earnings and disburse- 
ments of the Central Pacific Company during the three months ending . 
September 30th, 1867 — ninety-four miles of their road having been 
operated: Gross earnings, $556, 509.30; operating expenses, $101,620.89; 
net earnings, $454,888.41. 

The ratio of profits, approximating eighty-two per cent, of the gross 
earnings, is nearly three times as large as those realized by the best 
leading lines in the United States. The total income of this road for 
the month of September, 1867, was $200,550 ; operating expenses, 
$33,750 ; income for the following month, $212,000 — expenses having 



MISCELLAIJEOUS SUBJECTS. 671 

been about the same as for September, stowing a large increase of 
earnings over the earlier part of the year. 

This company are now offering a portion of their lands, for which 
they have patents issued by the Government, for sale on such con- 
ditions as entitle them to the attention of immigrants and others in 
search of eligible places for settlement. Their possessions cover some 
of the finest lands in the State, whether designed for agricultural or 
lumbering purposes, their value being greatly enhanced by their prox- 
imity to the line of this great thoroughfare, and in many cases also to 
some of the. best mining districts in the country. 

The following are the ofiBcers of this Company: Leland Stanford, 
President ; C. P. Huntington, Yice President ; Mark Hopkins, Treas- 
urer ; E. H. Miller, Jr. , Secretary ; S. S. Montague, Chief Engineer ; 
Charles Crocker, Superintendent; B. B. Crocker, Attorney. Directors: 
Leland Stanford, C. P. Huntington, A._ P. Stanford, Mark Hopkins, 
E. B. Crocker, E. H. Miller, Jr., and Charles Marsk 

■WESTERN PACITTC KAXLKOAD. 

This company was incorporated in 1862, for building a railroad 
from the city of San Jose, via Stockton to Sacramento, where it is to 
connect with the Central Pacific road. The length of this road is 120 
miles, twenty of which, leading eastwardly from San Jose, is already 
completed. The iron and rolling stock has all been purchased and 
landed at San Erancisco ; and a controlling interest in the capital stock 
having recently passed into more energetic hands, q,ctive operations, 
for some time delayed, have been resumed upon this work, with every 
prospect that it will be carried forward to an early completion, thereby 
establishing railroad communication between Sacramento and San 
Francisco. The principal officers of this company are the same as of 
the Central Pacific. 

SAN JOSE KOAB. 

This railroad, extending between the cities of San Francisco and 
San Jose', a distance of fifty miles, was completed in December, 1863, 
since which time it has been transacting a large, profitable, and steadily 
increasing business. 

SACEAMENTO VAlIiEY EOAD. 

The Sacramento valley railroad, extending from the city of Sacra- 
mento to Folsom, twenty and one half miles, was the first work of the 
kind completed in the State, having been opened for the transaction 
of business January 1st, 1856. For five or six years its earnings were 



G72 THE NATmiAL WEALTH OF CALrFOEXL\.. 

large, until tlic construction of the Central Pacific road diverted most 
of the transmontane trade over that route. Since that time its receipts 
have been much diminished, though its local business is still consider- 
able — more than sufficient to cover cost of repairs and operating. 

PIiACEEVUjUS and SACKAMENTO VAIiIiET EAUiKOAD. 

This road extends from Folsom, eastwardly, to Shingle Springs, a 
distance of twenty-six miles, the original intention ha\'ing been to cany 
it on to Placerville, nine miles beyond its present eastern terminus. 
This company being without rolling stock, theii- road is operated by 
the Sacramento Valley Company. 

CAIIPOENIA CENTEAIi KOAD. 

This road, designed to extend from Folsom to Marysville, a distance 
of forty-six miles, after having been built in 1860 to the toAvn of Lincoln, 
twenty-two miles northwest of Folsom, was at that point discontinued. 
Its earnings, owing to this abrupt termination, were never large, and 
the company meeting with financial embarrassments, their property 
has been advertised for sale, to satisfy mortgages resting upon it to 
the amount of $2, 000, 000. This road never having been supplied with 
cars or locomotives, the Central Pacific Company have operated it 
since its first opening. 

TUBA EAUiBOAD. 

This road, intended to run from Lincoln to Marysville, a distance 
of twenty-four nliles, was commenced in 1862, with the expectation 
that it would be finished the following year. Its progress, however, 
has since been slow, only sixteen miles, leading northwesterly from 
Lincoln, having yet been completed. Having recently fallen under a 
more energetic management, it now seems likely to be finished without 
further uimecessary delay. 

NOETHERN CAIilTOEiaA EOAD. 

This railroad extends from Marysville to Oroville, twenty-nine miles. 
li, has heretofore earned more than sufficient to defray current expenses; 
and should this be made a link in the projected Oregon road, it might 
yet prove a paying property to the stockholders. As the country about 
its northern terminus fills up with settlers, and the mines fui-ther back 
become more fully developed, its earnings will be likely, in any events 
to show a steady, if not a very marked increase hereafter. The con- 
struction of the contemplated railroad up Feather river, should it be 
completed, would also greatly enhance the value of this property. 



inSCELLAIfEOtJS SUBJECTS. 673 

TAKIOtrS SHORT BATOJOADS. 

The San Francisco and Alameda railroad commences on the bay of 
San Francisco, at a point opposite the city, and extends to Hajward's, 
sixteen and a half miles, the intention being to carry it thirteen miles 
further south, to Vallejo's mills, where it is to intersect the Western 
Pacific road. 

The Suscol and Calistoga Eailroad, now completed with cars run- 
ning to St. Helena, a distance of twenty-two miles, is being actively 
pushed towards its termination, with a prospect of being completed 
early in the summer of 1868 — its entire length being forty miles. 

The San Francisco and Oakland RaUroad reaches from the western 
terminus of the Oakland Encinal to the town of San Antonio, Alameda 
county, a distance of five miles, it being the intention of the company 
owning it to prolong it southward till it intersects the San Francisco 
and Alameda road. 

The Pittsburg llining Company have a railroad completed, extend- 
ing from their coal mine, on Monte Diablo, to their wharf on Suisun 
bay, a distance of five and a half miles. It was constructed ak a heavy 
cost, and over it all the coal from the Pittsburg, Independent, Union, 
and Eureka mines, is transported to tide water. 

BArLBOASS EECENTIiT COMMENCED. 

At the head of this category we have the California tod Pacific road, 
connecting Vallejo and Sacramento, with a branch to MarysviUe. This 
company, after much delay, having surmounted all obstacles, is now pro- 
ceeding with the work of grading and laying down track with an energy 
and an amplitude of means that leaves its early completion no longer 
problematic. A considerable portion of the grading is already done, 
and a large amount of the rails, with a portion of the rolling stock, has 
readied Vallejo from the East. This road passes nearly its entire 
length through a rich agricultural country, and having received sub- 
stantial aid from several of the counties along its route, will be likely 
to prove remunerative to its stockholders, as well as highly beneficial 
to the region it penetrates. The town of Vallejo will be especially 
benefitted by its construction, as it will be likely to make it the store- 
house and shipping point for immense quantities of grain and other 
farming produce, which will find at this place their most convenient 
depot. In fact, Vallejo promises to become in a short time one of the 
important railroad centers of the State, as there is a likelihood of not 
les.s tlian five or six roads emanating from this town to various points 
43 



674 THE NATTTBAL WEALTH OF CAUFOENIA. 

in the interior. The principal of these roads likely to be soon con- 
stnicted consists of one to Healdsburg, thence to be extended north 
through Mendocino and Humboldt counties; one to Martinez, connect- 
ing -with the Western Pacific and other roads leading to different parts 
of Contra Costa county; one to Petaluma, and perhaps several others 
of minor importance projected to adjacent towns and business centers. 

KOABS PKOjnCTED. 

Of the railroads projected, and the constructing of which is liiely 
soon to be actively entered upon and ultimately completed, being par- 
tially or wholly located within the limits of the State, the following are 
the principal, viz: the Southern Pacific, entering the State from the 
southeast, and terminating at San Francisco, with, perhaps, a branch 
to San Diego ; the several roads already enumerated as likely to radiate 
from Yallejo; the San Jose and Gilroy road, thirty miles long, which 
will undoubtedly be completed in the fall of 1868; a road from Alviso to 
San Jose, a distance of eight miles, easily built and much needed; 
from Sajp Pedro to Los Angeles, twenty-five miles, the company organ- 
ized, with capital stock of $500,000, and about commencing the work 
of grading; and the Stockton and Copperopolis road, the company 
also organized and likely to initiate work before long. 

In addition to these roads, which are certain to be soon begun, 
there are a number of others in contemplation, such as a road from 
Gilroy to Watsonville, continued thence to Santa Cruz; from Salinas to 
Monterey; from Oroville across the Sierra, by way of the north fork of 
Feather river; and, finally, from California to Oregon — an association of 
heavy capitalists having, in the early part of 1868, purchased and con- 
solidated the several roads extending from Eoseville, Placer county, 
to Oroville, Yuba county, with a view to continuing the same north 
to the dividing line between Oregon and California, and extending 
branches into the former State. The entire length of this road, in Cal- 
ifornia, will be 313 miles; capital stock, $15,000,000, in 150,000 shares, 
of $100 each; C. Temple Emmet, Thomas Bell, WUliam E. BaiTon, 
Joseph Barron, and Alpheus Bull, are appointed to act as Trustees 
until others are duly elected. 

STEAMSHIP lilNES. 

Prom the port of San Francisco there issue three ocean steamship 
routes to foreign countries, there being more than double that number 
of important coastwise routes. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company 
dispatch steamers regularly four times a month to Panama, and monthly 



MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS. 675 

to China. Tlie California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company 
dispatch a yessel monthly to the following ports on the coast of Mexico, 
viz: Cape St. Lucas, Mazatlan, Guaymas, and La Paz; also, tri-monthly 
to Portland, Oregon; bi-monthly to Trinidad, Crescent City, and 
Umpqua river; monthly to Victoria, Alaska, and Sandwich Islands; 
tri-monthly to Santa Barbara, San Pedro, and San Diego, and weekly 
to Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo. The North American 
Steamship Company send a steamer bi-monthly to San Juan del Sur, 
Nicaragua, touching at Manzanillo, the steamers of this company some- 
times sailing alternately to San Juan and Panama. 

According to a recent report made to the Pacific Mail Steamship 
Company by the President thereof, this company have assets valued 
at $28, 000, 000. They are the owners of a large number of first class 
ocean going steamers, it having been their policy to sell off their older 
and inferior vessels, and build others of gi-eater speed, strength, and 
capacity — twelve of this description, together with two large propellers 
and a powerful steam-tug, having been constructed by them during a 
little more than six years following May 1st, 1861. The expensive 
line to China and Japan, inaugurated January 1st, 1867, is understood 
to be yielding the company fair returns, in view of the profitable trade 
they are building up for the future. The steamers employed on this 
route are of the largest and staunchest kind ever built, being a credit 
to our naval architecture and the country they represent. 

What promises to be of special benefit to this service, is the prob- 
ability that petroleum will soon be substituted for coal as a steam 
generating fuel, whereby much of the space now required for that 
article can be devoted to the carriage of additional cargo, while the 
expense for this item will be materially reduced. Should this substi- 
tution be successfully effected, the gains to this company woidd be 
immense, as the great length of the voyage — there being no coaling 
station on the route — compels the allotment of nearly half the ship's 
carrying capacity for fuel stores alone, thereby diminishing her earn- 
ings in a like ratio, since it is upon the freights that most reliance is 
made for profits. Petroleum can probably be supplied in California 
as cheaply as in any other country, when there shall be a large home 
consumption created for this article, warranting capital embarking 
extensively in its manufacture. The crude material, of the best quality 
for the purpose above indicated, exists at various points in the State 
in the greatest profusion, and under circumstances rendering the sup- 
ply certain and its collection inexpensive. The prosj)ect of our exten- 



67G THE NATUEAL "WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

sive petroleum deposits being used as a steam producing fuel, imparts 
to tliem a new and peculiar value. 

The California Steam Navigation Company own nearly all the ves- 
sels running on the routes into the interior. In their service steamers 
leave San Francisco daily for Sacramento and Stockton, where they 
connect with smaller vessels running to points still further inland. 
Small steamers also run daily from San Francisco to Suisun, Benicia, 
Martinez, Mare Island, Napa, Petaluma, San Rafael, Alviso, and other 
points about the bay, there being steam ferries that constantly ply 
between the metropolis and Oakland, Alameda, and other towns sit- 
uated on the opposite shore of the bay. 

SHIP BmLDING. 

Notwithstanding the high prices of labor and certain classes of 
material there has been a good deal of ship building carried on at San 
Francisco, and at various points along the northern coast during the 
past six or eight years, the amount of repairing done at the port of San 
Francisco having always been large. For the past three years the busi- 
ness of constructing new vessels has been slack here as well as in all 
other parts of the United States. But it is believed it will soon experi- 
ence a revival, the demand for new vessels being considerable on this 
coast, while the advantages enjoyed here in the matter of cheap lumber 
and certain other requisite material, will be likely to more than off-set 
the somewhat higher prices of capital and labor. 

From a report lately made by C. T. Hopkins and Joseph Eingot to 
the Board of Marine Underwriters of San Francisco, it appears that 
there are owned in that city 136 vessels, having a total capacity of 
53, 312 tons, and of the aggregate market value of $1, 679, 000. Of this 
number, 21 are ships of the average age of 20 years, 76 are barks of the 
average age of 15 7-lOth years, and 39 are brigs of the average age of 
11 l-5th years. 

From the same report it appears that there have been built on this 
coast, since 1859, twenty eight vessels, the capacity of which has ranged 
from 83 to 298 tons; costing from $9,000 to $25,000 each. The most of 
these vessels were built at San Francisco and Coos Bay, one at Oak- 
land, and the balance at Novarro river, Umpqua, and various other 
points along the northern coast; the lumber used being chiefly pine, 
with a little teak, oak, laurel and cedar. A much greater proportion of 
small craft, ranging in burden from ten up to seventy or eighty tons, is 
built in California than of larger vessels. The keels for a considerable 



JUSCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS. 677 

number of ferry boats and steamers for navigating the inland waters of 
the State are laid every year at San Francisco or other places about the 
bay, or along the navigable streams of the interior; all this class of 
vessels, with a few ocean going steamers, having been built in the coun- 
try. Some idea of the extent of this branch of ship building may be 
gained from the fact that the California Steam Navigation Company 
have retired over one hundred steamers within the past ten years, being 
vessels owned by rival companies which they have bought and tied up, 
or hired to lie idle. 

No country in the world offera anything like the natural advantages 
for ship building that are to be found along the northern coast of Cali- 
fornia and the southern coast of Oregon, along the Columbia river, and 
more especially about Puget Sound, timber of good quality and of the 
most desirable size being everywhere abundant and convenient to deep 
water. So decided are these advantages, taken in connection with the 
superior climate, admitting of labor being prosecuted the year through 
without interruption, that the authors of the report alluded to suggest 
to the Board of Underwriters, the policy of the shipping and insurance 
interest on the coast aiding practical builders in establishing an exten- 
sive ship yard at some eligible point, or perhaps several, with' a view 
to building vessels not only foi home service, but for sale in foreign 
markets; satisfied that, if embarked in on a large scale and sustained 
by ample capital, the entei-prise could not fail to prove highly remuner- 
ative to parties concerned and extremely beneficial to the public. 

TELEGEAPH SYSTEM. 

The Telegraph system of this coast was inaugurated by the organ- 
ization in September, 1862, of the California State Telegraph Company. 
Its lines originally extended from San Francisco to Marysville, there 
being then but three other offices opened, viz: at San Jose, Stockton 
and Sacramento. Now the Company own over five thousand miles of 
wire and nearly two hundred offices, while their lines extend to all the 
important points in .this State, Washington Territory, British Columbia 
and Nevada, and as far east as Great Salt Lake City. It consolidated 
in 1860 with the Alta California Telegraph Company, reaching east- 
ward to Sonora and Do^vnieville, and in 1861 with the telegraph lines 
in Oregon, and with those of the Pacific and Atlantic Telegraph Com- 
pany, then completed from San Francisco to Los Angeles. In 1861 
the Overland line to the Atlantic was inaugurated, with the aid of sub- 
sidies from the Federal and State governments. It was commenced in 
AprU, 1861, and finished on the 25th day of October of that year to 



678 



THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIEORNU. 



Salt Lake, there connecting witli the Western Union Telegraph Com- 
pany. In 1862 the Overland Company was consolidated with the State 
Company, and in 1867 the entire lines of the latter were leased by the 
Western Union Telegraph Company, which, with this addition, is said 
to have more than one hundred thousand miles of wire. In fact, the 
history of telegraphing on this coast, as everywhere else, is only a 
series of unions, sshowing seemingly a constant tendency in short, 
isolated lines, to merge into and disappear before extensive and united 
systems. 

GOLD PBODUCT OF CALIFOBNIA. 

Tlie following table exhibits the total and annual product of gold in 
the State of California, from the time of its discovery to the end of 
1867, a period of twenty years. The figures, though not perhaps abso- 
lutely correct, approximate exactness as nearly, no doubt, as any esti- 
mates extant : 



1848 $10,000,000 

1849 40,000,000 

1850 50,000,000 

1851- 55,000,000 

1852 60,000,000 

1853 65,000,000 

1854 60,000,000 

1855 55,000,000 

185G 55,000,000 

1857 55,000,000 

1858 50,000,000 



Carried forward §555,000,000 



Brought forward. §555,000,000 



1859. 
1860. 
1861. 
1862. 
1863. 
1864. 
1865. 
1866. 
1807. 




Total $801,300,000 



STATE AND COIINTY FINANCES. 

Fron\ the last report of the State Controller, it appears that the total 
indebtedness of the State of California amounted, on the 1st Novem- 
ber, 1867, to $5, 126, 500, which has since been reduced to a little less 
than §4,700,000. The State revenues for the fiscal year ending Juno 
30th, 1867, amounted to §3,595,232.06, the expenditures for the same 
period having been $2, 954, 233. 79. The total receipts of the State for 
1868 Avere estimated by this oflicial at S2, 394, 440, and the expenditures 
at $2,246,630. 

The following table exhibits the amount of indebtedness, rate of 
interest, assessed value of property, rate of taxation, and estimated 
population in all the counties in the State, with the few exceptionij 
apparent therein. 



MISCELLiSEOUS SUBJECTS. 



679 



Countiea. 


Coimty 
DebtB. 


Amoimt 
Funded. 


w 
'i 

5 

1 


Pit 
11 


> 

II 

w 
S 


ai 

if 

fa. 
P? 


ill 

il 




$70,000 00 
99,152 10 
22,003 00 
34,000 00 

615,292 91 
62,799 00 
49,371 7G 
60,095 00 
34,000 00 
4,708,031 00 
15,000 00 

2DG,210 00 
01,018 10 
19,433 00 
30,000 00 

202,715 14 

176,000 00 
23,243 OS 
6,595 90 




10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 
7 10 


$4.80 
1.90 

.62 
1.07 
3.6T 

.60 
1.35 
1.80 

.55 
1.97 
2.00 
4.00 
1.27 
1.67 
1.70 

■ ■ " ' 2I65 
1.74 
1.37 
1.37 
1.06 


$239,994 

1,157,697 

2,619,480 

4,813,295 

642,065 

372,916 

794,991 

628,962 

780,199 

57,882,113 

369,987 

736,540 

468,350 

245,716 


$373,407 

889,246 

2,227,807 

1,856,705 

078,450 

661,867 

1,305,617 

1,010,134 

1,297,412 

61,152,014 

884,883 

680,950 

1,110,185 

963,882 

*1,441,739 

1,540.725 

1,075,138 

699,132 

1,303,172 

709,109 

1,002,120 

671,609 

*2,700,000 

1,298,141 

2,983,509 

4,499,870 

1,290,619 

1,460,584 

349,868 

*341,187 

*450,000 

*5,128,358 

*2,200,000 

*500,000 

*819,825 

*393,70S 

*750,000 

*1,237,470 

132,580 

*1,192,621 

*695,201 

*585,333 

*5,276,016 

*76S,330 

*771,301 

*3,044,120 

*6,346,686 

*1,698,500 

*l,a99,37e 

*4,150,600 


2,200 






11,000 






16,600 






15,430 




$34,300 00 


14,000 




6,986 






7,080 






7,000 


Colusa 





3,000 


San Francisco 


4,7G8,0;il 00 


126,000 
1,800 




191,210 00 
01,018 10 
15,600 00 
20,000 00 
187,573 04 
149,500 00 


8 10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 


10,732 




6,000 


Fresno 


3,000 
6,600 




1,391,213 

2,252,134 

651,257 

368,854 

1,529,904 

1,071,837 

739,068 


16,000 




6,000 




2,600 








5,100 








6,000 




41,000 00 
20,000 00 


32,000 00 
20,000 00 


10 


8,000 


Monf.Rrty 


5,000 




.87 
2.37 
1.47 
1.60 
1.12 
1.82 
1.02 
1.87 


5,148 




177,000 00 
406,500 00 
702,600 24 
253,340 00 
65,012 53 
12,000 00 
22,055 47 
10,000 00 
277,613 00 
20,000 00 


100,850 00 


7 
7 12 

6 

8 
10 
10 
10 

6 
10 


1,267,942 
0,208,703 
4,974,329 
2,808,769 
650,306 
65,260 


12,000 








412,300 no 

263,340 00 
39,203 64 
4,200 00 
13,052 19 
10,000 00 

200,000 00 


23,000 








6,200 








600 


Alpine 




















5,330 


Invo 














3,000 00 












Lake 










3,350 


Lassen 


10,300 00 
47,759 00 
15,000 00 
8,000 00 
21,007 00 
90,255 14 
00,808 00 
30,800 00 
40,000 00 
149,804 00 












Blaj-inosa 


5,050 00 


10 
10 






4,170 




1.00 


127,085 








3,070 




14,024 00 
32,714 45 
45,000 00 
30,800 00 
40,000 00 
90,252 00 
10,500 00 

100,000 00 
52,000 00 

183,400 00 


7 

10 

7 8 10 

10 

7 
7 10 
10 
10 
10 
10 


' " " l'.35' " 















17,140 




































100,000 00 
62,000 00 
187,400 OO 
















Yulja 


1 


10,420 






Totals 


59,421,000 27 


$7,195,138 42 




1 




493,972 








$221,341,608 






1 





Many of the counties have assets to meet a portion of their indebt- 
edness, the aggregate value thereof being estimated at $2,450,000, which, 
deducted from the above figures, leaves a balance to represent the actual 
indebtedness of the counties of about $7,000,000. If to this be added 
the State debt, $4, 700, 000, and say $4, 000, 000 for debts due by cities and 
towns in their corporate capacity, and $1, 000, 000 for debts of counties 
omitted in the above table, wo have a total indebtedness of nearly 
$17,000,000. 

* Keal and Personal Property. 



680 THE NATUEAL WEALTH OF CALIFORNIA- 

FISHERIES. 

The fisheries on our northwestern coast, and in the Arctic Ocean, 
are becoming a very important interest, having rapidly expanded within 
the past few years. The arrivals belonging to the whaling fleet during 
the year 1867 amounted to twenty-two, of which thirteen were from the 
Arctic Ocean, seven of these vessels belonging to the port of San Fran- 
cisco. The product of the catch for the season consisted of 13,149 
barrels of oil, and 186,600 pounds bone, showing an average of 600 
barrels oil and 8, 500 pounds bone to each vessel. There were twenty- 
six arrivals in 1866, bringing 15,000 barrels oil and 220,000 pounds 
bone; and twenty arrivals in 1885, with 11,323 barrels oil and 114,000 
pounds bone. The most of the fleet engaged in these northern waters 
were formerly in the habit of repairing to Honolulu for the piirpose of 
making sale or re-shipment of cargo and obtaining supplies. For sev- 
eral years past more of them have made San Francisco their place of 
rendezvous, and it is altogether probable that the number repairing 
to that port will be annually increased hereafter. 

The first adventure from San Francisco, in the cod fisheries of the 
north, was made in 1862. Three years later seven vessels Avere engaged 
in the business, the number having been increased to eighteen in 1866. 
In 1867, twenty cargoes were received at San Francisco, one ves.oel 
having made two trips during the season. All these vessels but two 
were fitted out at the port last mentioned. The number of fish caught 
during the latter year was 943,400, amounting to 1,183 tons, dried fish. 
In 1863 there were eighteen arrivals, bringing 724,003 fish, amounting 
to 992 tons of the dried article; the arrivals in 1835 having been seven — 
number of fish taken, 469,400 — tons dried, 537. The time consumed 
in making the round trip by these vessels, in 1837, ranged from ninety- 
five to one hundred and ninety-three days. 

IMMIGRATION. 

Almost every chapter in this volume may be said to contain some- 
thing pertinent to the question of immigration. In fact, all that has 
been written about the soil, climate, agricultural advantages, rate of 
wages, manufacturing and mining industries, and almost every other 
leading topic treated of in these pages, may be considered as having 
a direct bearing on this subject; therefore, we will not pursue it further 
in this place than to say the present seems an auspicious season, invit- 
ing general emigration to California. Every industrial interest is at 



mSCELLAJTEOUS STJEJECTS. 681 

this time exceedingly prosperous. Farming in all its branches, of 
grain, fruit, grape, wool, and cattle growing, has paid munificently 
for several years past, having, to all appearance, an equally prosperous 
future before it. Lands of good quality, unless sought after in the im- 
mediate vicinity of San Francisco, are cheap and procurable on easy 
conditions ; the opportunities for making money in the mines are still 
excellent, while labor of nearly every kind is in demand at liberal prices, 
which the prospective requirements for railroad construction prom- 
ises to sustain for a long time to come. The rates of passage by the 
several steamship lines are extremely low, the transit being made with 
expedition, comfort, and safety. The various overland routes are also 
in better condition for travel than ever before, the more central being 
settled up for a long stretch at each end, with numerous towns and 
stations at intervals along it, enabling the emigrant to obtain supplies 
without carrying them as formerly all the way through. There will, 
moreover, be but little to fear from Indian molestations on this route 
hei-eafter. To such, then, abroad, as may entertain the idea of an 
early change of locality, or who may ever have contemplated a removal 
to California, it may be said that the present is every way an opportune 
moment for emigration to this State. 

POFULATTON, VOTERS, BACES, ETO. 

According to a semi-official enumeration, more recent than any in 
this work heretofore alluded to, the population of California, all classes 
included, maybe set down at about 550,000, of which about 350,000 
are males; the preponderance in favor of this sex being much less now 
than it was twelve or fifteen years ago. Of the entire number of inhab- 
itants, fully one fifth consist of children under eighteen years of age. 
The population of the State is composed of the various races in about 
the following proportions: white, 478,000; colored, 5,000; Chinese, 
60,000; domesticated Indians living in families, about the towns or 
on reservations, 4,000; and wild Indians, 3,000. 

A just apportionment of the voting population, numbering about 
180,000, would give to the several nationalities composing it something 
like the following figures: native born Americans, 85,000 — 55,000 from 
the free and 30,000 from the former slave States; Germans, Swedes, 
Danes, Eussians, etc., 20,000; English, Scotch, and Welsh, 5,000; 
Irish, 15,000; French, Italians, Spanish Americans, etc., 5,000. 

Of the Chinese population, it is estimated that about thirty-eight 
or forty thousand find employment in working such mioes as have 



682 THE NATXmAl -WEAXTH OF CALIFOBNU. 

generally beau abandoned by the wlaites ; about eiglit thousand of 
their number having also been engaged for the past few years as 
common laborers on the Central Pacific railroad. Of the balance, 
some are scattered over the country, or, remaining in the cities and 
towns, are employed as cooks or in more menial capacities ; a few hun- 
dred find service in our woolen mills and similar establishments, while 
a considerable percentage carry on laundries on their own account oi' 
engage in trade, gardening, or other pursuits, their customers in these 
latter branches being found mostly among their own countrymen. Li 
some respects they have proved a useful class, inasmuch as certain of our 
manufacturing industries could not without their aid have obtained a 
foothold thus early ; nor but for this could the Central Pacific railroad, 
an enterprise vital to every interest in the State, have been pushed for- 
ward with the speed it has been ;.not so much, in the latter case, from 
their cheapening labor as in their filling a demand that must otherwise' 
liave remained, at least for the time being, unsupplied. But, notwith- 
standing the useful purpose they have served in this connection, a strong- 
feeling of dislike, not to say hostility, is entertained towards this 
people, especially on the part of the laboring classes — a feeling which, 
it is but just to say, has sprung as much from the natural antagonism 
of the races as from any apprehended reduction of wages likely to be 
effected by the presence of these Asiatic competitors in the labor mar- 
ket. What shape this vexed question is likely to take is at this junc- 
ture diificult to predict; though, from the fact that both those who 
favor, and those who oppose their admission into the State, have some 
sound reasons to sustain their views, it seems destined to be a disturb- 
ing element for some time to come. 

LIBEAEIES, LITEKATUEE, JOUBNALISM, ETC. 

There are thii-ty-one libraries in California, containing each 1,000 
volumes or more, and an aggregate number of about 130, 000 volumes. 
The largest of these institutions, the State Library, contains a little 
more than 30,000 volumes. In addition to the above, there are about 
forty smaller libraries in the State, belonging to the various towns, 
public schools, literary associations, etc., and containing from 300 
to 1,000 volumes each, making a further aggregate of about 20,000 
volumes. Besides these public libraries there are many reading rooms, 
Avliere the leading journals, magazines and other periodical publications 
of the day are to be found — a vast amount of reading matter of this 
description being imported on every steamer arriving from the East. 



MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS. 683 

There are two liundred and thirty-eigM different newspapers and 
periodicals published in California, of which twenty-eight are issued 
daily; two, tri-weeHy; five, semi-weekly; ninety-two, weeky; one tn- 
nionthly; one, semi-monthly; eight, monthly, and one. bi-montmy; 
besides which, five of the dailies issue steamer editions, and twelve 
issue weekly editions. Seven of these newspapers are pubbshed in 
foreign languages, two being in German, two in French, a^l one each 
in Spanish, Italian and Chinese. There are fifty-three different pub- 
lications issued in Sau Francisco, five in Sacramento, and several other 
towns in the interior have two or more. , 

From the foregoing it wiU be seen that California contains a large 
number of newspapers in proportion to its population the tastes and 
habits of the people inclining them to indulge in this style of readm 
more than any other. The liberal support bestowed upon this class oi 
publications, and the lively interest evinced by their patrons in public 
affairs, have tended to impart to journalism in this State a high char- 
acter for enterprise and ability; several of the leading dailies,_ both m 
San Francisco and in two or three of the interior towns being con- 
ducted with a degree of energy, tact and talent that would do no dis- 
credit to the ablest journals in the metropolitan cities of the Atlantic 
States or Europe. Indeed, it maybe justly said that some of these San 
Francisco papers are scarcely inferior in this respect to any published 
in these great centers of wealth and enlightenment. 

mile many meritorious and popular works have been produced^by 
California authors, it can hardly be claimed that anything lie^ ^.is- 
tinctive literature has yet been eliminated from the product of their 
labors nor have their merits always met with that ready recognition 
even at home that is generaUy so freely accorded everything indigen- 
ous to tlie State. ■, c i 
The reason of this is found in the fact that so large a share of read- 
ing matter is imported from the East, to a want of permanent homes 
among the people, and to an absolute lack of population, and not so 
much to the absence of a fair proportion of appreciative readers; 
though California, no doubt, contains a large element which pre er the 
sensational and overwraught style of modern current literatui-e to that 
of a more solid and useful kind. Still, several Califorma writers have 
acquired more than a mere local reputation, not only m the walks of 
humor, poetry, and fiction, but also in jurisprudence, science, history, 
mathematics, etc., some of whose works have been accorded very hon- 
orable recognition in the world of letters. 

The leading pubUshing houses in California are those of H. H. 



684 THE NATUIUL WEALTH OF CALIFOENIA. 

Bancroft & Co., and A. Eoman & Co. The following bibliograpliical 
table contains a list of the principal books issued from tbe press of 
this State, besides which there have been published great numbers of 
pamphlets on various topics, political, religious, economical, educa- 
tional, etc., together with more than one hundred maps, all of more 
or less loca], and some of general interest : 

History — History of Califcrmia; by Praiikliii Tuthill. Colonial History of California; by J. 
"W. Dwinelle. A Youtli's History of California; by Lucia Norman. 

Law — International Law, and Laws of War; by H. "W. Halleck. Digest of California Re- 
ports; by H. J. Labatt. Probate Law and Practice in California; by D. P. Belknap. 
Civil Practice Act of CaUfomia ; annotated by Charles H. Parker, llining Laws and 
Forms; by H. B. Congdon. Bancroft's New Law and Form Book; 3d edition. Forms 
and Use of Blanks; by E. W. Hent. Mining Claims and "Water Eiglit:> ; by Gregory 
Tale. General Laws of California; compiled by Theodore H. Hittell. 

Mining — Hand Book of Mining in the Pacific States; by John S. Hittell. Processes of Sil- 
ver and Gold Extraction; by Guido Kustel. Sulphurets; byW. Barstow. Concentra- 
tion and Chlorination Processes; by Guido Kustel. 

Agbicttltueb — Theory and Practice of Bee Culture ; by J. S. Harbison. California Silk 
Grower's Manual, by Louis Prevost. Grape Culture and Wine Making in California; 
by T. Hart Hyatt. 

Edttcationai, — ^Instructions in Gymnastics; by Arthur and Charles Nahl. Clarke's New 
School Geography for Schools in the Pacific States; by Chas. Russell Clarke. Clarke's 
New Primary Geography. Elements of Composition ; by Augustus Layres. Belles 
Lettres; by Augustus Layres. Carrie Carleton's Letter Writer. Manual of Oral In- 
struction; by Laura T. Fowler. Common School Headings; by John Swett. 

PoETEX — Anselmo; by Geo. E. Parburt. The California Hundred; by J. H. Eogers. Out- 
croppings of California Verse. Poems ; by Sarah E. Carmichael. Poetry of the 
Pacific; edited by May Wentworth. Poesies; by Pierre Cauwet. Poems; by Cha". 
Warren Stoddard. The Lost Galleon, and other Tales; by F. Bret Harte. Poems; 
by John E. Eidge. 

FicanoN — In Bonds; by Laura Preston. The Greek Slave ; by lanthe. Leah's Confessions. 
Fairy Tales; by May Wentworth. 

Eeligiods — The California Pilgrim; by Eev. J. A. Benton. Esther: the Hebrew Queen; 
by Eev. W. A. Scott, D.D. Samson: the Hebrew Hercules; by Eev. W. A. Scott, D.D. 
Synopsis of Jewish History; by Eev. H. A. Henry. Discourses on Genesis; by Eev. 
H. A. Hem-y. 

DnsoEiPTTVE.— Sonora; from the Spanish of Velasco. California Register; by Henry G. 
Langley. Bancroft's Handbook of the Pacific States, and Eegister of Facts; by Wm. 
Henry Knight. Descriptive Atlas of the Pacific States; by C. E. Clarke. Resources 
of CaUfomia; by John S. Hittell. 

MiscELiANBons — Geological Survey of California; by J. D. Whitney. Confucius, and the 
Chinese Classics; edited by Eev. /I. W. Loomis. Financial Economy; by J. A. Ferris. 
Chinese and English Phrase Book; by B. Lanctot. Diseases of the Heart; by David 
Wooster, M. D. Bancroft's Map of the Pacific States; compiled by Wm. Henry Knight. 
BuEsian and English Phrase Book. 



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jrmes— Quail Hill, 681 

Kearsarge, 287. 

Union (copper), 423. 

Bine Gravel Company's, 302, 585. 

Black Diamond (coal), 158, 399. 

Pittsburg (coal), 159. 
Mines and Mining, 562. 

Advice to novices, 570. 

Best fields for labor, 571. 

Examples of success, 585. 

Openings for capital, 586. 

In northwestern counties, 568. 

Butte, Sierra, and Plumas counties, 582. 

At Grass VaUey, 579. 

Placer, 531. 

Elver bed, 537. 

Deep placer, 538. 

Tunnel, 539. 

Hj'draulio, 541. 

Quartz or vein, 547, 574. 

Implements, 532, 562. 

Early difficulties, 662. 

Number of locations, 576. 
Jliuers' Foundry, 613. 
JBnt, TJ. S. Branch, 659. 
Jlissions — support of, 14. 

Extent and prosperity of, 14. 

Trade and wealth of, 15. 

Kevenues appropriated, 15, 

DecHne of, 15. 

Downfall of, 17. 

List of names, location, and when found- 
ed, 17. 
Mission Peak, 153. 
Mohave Eiver, Sink and Desert, 101. 
Mollusca, (shell fish), 499. 
Mokelumne Hill, 262. 
Montecita, 112. 
Monte Diablo, 156. 

Coal mines, 158^-399. 
Mono county, 280. 
Lake, 282. 
Pass, 273. 
Monterey County, 120. 

Town, 123, 125; 
Morgan Mine, 264. 
Morago, Capt., 20. 

Mormons— aiTival at San Francisco, 54. 
Mormon Island, 312. 
Mother lode, or "VetaMadre," 253, 274 423 

575. 
Mountains— Height of, 75. 

Sierra Nevada, 71, 73, 104, 118, 154, 216 
221, 228, 396, 416. 



IS, 691 

Mountains— Coast Eange. 71, 73, 94, 104, 

118, 154, 190, 192, 216, 396. 

Diablo Eange, 75. 

Sierra Madi-e, 103. 

Santa Susana, 104, 110, 413. 

Santa Inez, 104, 110, 412. 

San Eafael, 104. 

Soledad, 109. 

Santa Lucia, 116-120, 412. 

Tehatchaypah, 118. 

Gavilan, or Sierra Moreno, 121, 142, -412. 

Santa Craz, 126. 

Mayacamas, 184. 

Uncle Sam, 184. 

San Gabriel, 414. 

San Bernardino, 416. 
Mounts — San Bernardino, 75. 

Hamilton, 75, 409. 

Eipley, 75. 

San Carlos, 75. 

Downey, 75. 

Diablo, 75, 76, 156, 398, 

Pinos, 118. 

El Dorado, 118. 

St. Helena, 176-183, 40a 

YaUoballey, 196. 

Pierce, 197-199. 

BaUey, 198. 

Shasta, 213. 

Williamson, 328, 

Tyi ■•all, 328. 

"Whi y, 328. 

Kahweah, 328. 

Bache, 406. 

Tamalpais, 162, 409, 
Mud volcanoes, 96. 
Mustard seed, 350. 

"N. 

Napa County, 22, 175, 

Valley, 176-177. 

City, 179. 

Soda Springs, 181, 
Navy Yard, 307. 

New Ahnaden Quicksilver Mine, 140, 590. 
New Idria Quicksilver Sline, 326, 591. 
Nevada County, 232, 237, 428. 

City, 234. 
Nicolaus, 299. 
North Star Mine, 238, 581. 
Nonvegian Skate, 230. 
Nutmeg Tree, 516? 
New Albion, 11. 
Newspapers, 683. 



.692 

Kew Year's Point, 128. 

O. 

Oaks, 512. 

Oakes and Eeese Sline, 276k. 

OaklancV 150. 

Oak Knoll, 182. 

Oil Works, G25. 

Olema, 162. 

Opals, 265. 

Orange culture, 106. 

Oriole, 463. 

Orleans Bar, 20G^ 207. 41T. 

OroTiUe, 294. 

Owl, 454. 

Oysters, 499'. 



Pacific KoUing JliUs, GlOi 
Pacific Congress Springs, 14(X 
Paclieeo, 155. 

Pajaro Eiver and Valley, 121. 
Palou, Fathsr, 23-25. 
Panamint Jlountains, 284, 287- 
Paso Eobles, 118. 
Paso Piobles Springs, 116. 
Pattie, Jas. O., 45. 
Paper Mills, 133, 1G4. 621. 
Pass, Livermore, 146, 398. 
CcTral Hollow. 146. 
Tejon, 109, 118. 
Beckworth's, 225t 
Mono, 273. 
Pacheco, 401. 
Tehatchaypah, 118. 
Peanuts, 294. 

Pebble Beach, 127. 

Percli, 487. 

Periodicals and Newspapers, 683. 

Perouse, La, 11, 62. 

Pescadero, 12G. 

Petaluma, 166. 

Petroleum, 109, 117, 161, 201, 297. 

Pianos and Organs, 634. 

Pigeon^, 467. 

Pigeon Point, 128, 

PUot Peak, 225. 

Pine Mountain, 166. 

Pio Pico, 51. 

Pioneers, Society of California, 650. 

Pitt Eiver, 212. 

Pines, 509. 

Pine Tree Sline, 275, 419. 



IKDES. 



Placers, Sliallow, 531, 532.. 

Deep, 538. 

Eapid exploration of, 565i. 

Various branches of, 571. 
Placer County, 241. 
Placerville, 248. 
Plants, 517. 
Plover, 470. 
Plumas County, 224. 
Plumbago, 272. 
Point Pinos, 83. 

Preston's, 86. 

Trinidad, 87. 

St. George, 88. 

Duma, 104. 

San Mateo, 104. 

Concepcion, 113. 

I>e Los Keyes, 1G2. 

San Quentia, 1G5. 

Arenas, 196. 
Poison Oak, 517. 
Population, 41, 4G, 47, 681. 
Portala, Gov. Don Gaspar de, 7. 
Potatoes, 368. 
Potteries, C29. 
Powder "Works— California, 133, 62a 

Pacific, 162, 164, G20. 
Presidios, 19. 

Princeton Mine, 275, 419, 577. 
Pueblos, 20. 
Publisbing Houses, 683. 
Publications, list of California, 684. 
Punta de los Keyes, 6, 1G2. 



Quail, 468. 

QuaU Hill Mine, 683. 

Quartz Mining, 547, 574. 

Mill?, etc., 550. 
Quicksilver, 590. 

Product, 590. 

Markets for, 591. 

New Idria Jline, 32G, 501. 

New Almaden Mine, 140, 590. 

Kedington Mine, 591. 
Quincy, 226. 
Quivera, 31. 

K. 

Kailroads — Central Pacific, 6G8. 
Western Pacilic, G71. 
S.in Francisco and San Jose, 143, 671. 
Sacramento Vallev, G71. 



693 



PlacerviUe and Sacramento, 672. 
California Central, 672. 
Yuba, 672. 

Northern California, 672. 
San Francisco and Alameda, 146, 673. 
Suscol and Calistoga, 673. 
San Francisco and Oakland, 147, 673. 
Pittsburg Mining Company, 673. 
Southern Pacific, 674. 
California and Oregon, 674. 
Oroville and Feather Kiver, 674. 
Recently commenced, 674, 
Projected, 674. 
Hattleanakes, 483. 
Kawhide Kanch Mine, 270. 
Bedington Quicksilver Miue,~591. 
Reading, P. B., 202. 
Piedwood, 506. 
City, 143. 
Red Dog, 236, 428. 

Bluffs, 290. 
Reptiles— Testudinata (Tortoises), 480. 
Sauria (Lizards), 481. 
Ophidia (Serpents), 483. 
Batrachia (Frogs), 485. 
Riley, Gen. Bennet, 58. 
Pao Vista, 308. 
Rivers, 77. 

Pajaro, 121. 

Carmel, 121. 

San Lorenzo, 124. 

San Joaquin, 154, 314j 324. 

Mokelumue, 251. 

Mattole, 197. 

Bear, 107, 242. 

Eel, 197, 198. 

Elk, 197. 

Mad, 197-198. 

Trinity, 202-203. 

laamath, 205, 208. 

Pitt, 210, 212. 

Scott's, 210. 

American, 242, 425. 

Feather, 225, 417. 

Kern, 119, 417. 

Yuba, 225. 

Owen's, 284. 

Eug's, 324. 

Los Angeles, 104. 

San Gabriel, 104, 109. 

Santa Ana, 104. 

Santa Inez, 111. 

San Jose, 109. 

Cuyama, 111. 



Rivers — Salinas, 121. 

San Benito, 121. 
Ross Fort, 37. 
Reseuofl^ Count Von, 37. 
Rice Mills, 627. 

Culture and consumption of, 355, 627. 
Robin, 460. 
Robinson, Alfred, 41. 
Rogers, Capt. Woodes, 23-25. 
Rolling, MUh, 610. 
Rope Walk, 618. 
Rosin, Pitch, etc., 642. 
Rough and P^eady, 239. 
Russian River, 190. 



Sacramento County,. 309. 
City, 310. 
Valley, 40, 397. 
Saddlery and harness, manufacture of, 631. 
Salmon, 494, 

Salmon River Mountains, 205. 
Salinas Valley and River, 83, 110, 121. 
Salamander, 486. 
Salt, manufacture of, 153, 623. 

Mills, 023. 
Sand storms, 96. 

San Andreas, (county seat Calaveras Co., 262. 
San Bernardino County, 94. 

Valley, 102, 
San Benito River and Valley, 121, 403, 
San Juan Capistrano, 108. 

Valley, 122. 
San Clemente Island, 9L 
San Diego County, 94. 

Town, 97, 

Harbor, 80. 

Mi?sion, 98, 
San Francisco, City and County, G44. 

Situation and topography, 644. 

Early settlement, 645. 

Subsequent J)rogress, 645. 

Street grade-, 045. 

Public squares, 046. 

Names of streets, 646. 

Improvement of water front, 647. 

Sea waU, 647. 

Ai'chitecture of city, 648. 

Earthquake-, 648. 

Churches, 649. 

Theatres, and places of amusement, 649. 

Scientific, social, literary, and eleemosy- 
nary institutions, G50. 



694 



San Francisco, City and County — California 

Academy of Natural Science, 650. 

German Academy of Xatural Science,6o0. 

Mercantile library Ajsociation, CoO. 

Mechanic's In-titute, 650. 

Society of California Pioneers, 650. 

Tonng Men's Clmstian Association, C50, 

Protestant Orphan Asylnm, 651. 

City Hospitals, 651. 

United States Marine Hospital, 651. 

St. Mary's Hospital, 652. 

Women's Hospital, G52. 

Asylum for Deaf, Dumb and BMnd, 652. 

Magdalen Asylum, 65"2. 

Alameda Park Asylum, 652. 

Home for the Inebriate, 652. 

Inhabitants, number of, 652. 

Children, number of, 652. 

Diversity of race=, 653. 

Obserrance of the Sabbath^ 653. 

Educational system, 653. 

College of St. Ignatius, 654. 

St. Mary's College, 65i. 

City College, 654. 

Cahfomia Business University, 654. 

City property, value of, 655. 

Improvements, value of, 655. 

Dry docks, 655. 

Pacific Mail Steamship Co.'s •wharf, 656. 

Police department, 656. 

Fire department, 656. 

Cemeteries, 657. 

Public gardens, 657. 

Home tead Associations, 657. 

City railioads, 657. 

Gas 'Works 657. 

Water Works, 657. 

Banks, 658. 

Bant of California, 658. 

Pacific Bank, 658. 

Insurance Companies, 659. 

Mint, U. S. Branch, 659. 

Advantages of position, <562. 

Commerce, 663. 

Shipments of merchandise and treasure, 
665. 

Internal revenue receipts, 667. 

Arrivals and departures, 667. 
San Francisco de Solano, Mission of, 163. 
San GavUan Mountains, 121, 142, 412. 
San Gabriel, lOS. 
San Joaquin County, 314. 

Valley, 40, 337." 
San Jose' City, 136. 
San Jose Mission, 133. 



San Juan (North), 235. 

(South), 122, 123. 

Old Mission, 18. 
San Leandro — Town and Creek, 152. 
San Lorenzo Valley, 126. 

Creek, 85. 
San Luis Obispo County, lU- 

Bay, 82. 
San L"is El Key, 98. 
San Mateo County, 142. 
San Miguel Island, 90. 
San Pedro Town, 104. 

Harbor, 80. 
San Quentin, 165. 
San P^afael, 17, 164. 

Mountain, 104. 

Mission ofi 17. 
San Eamon Valley, 155. 

Creek, 155. 
San Saba Iron Mining Company, 589. 
Santa Ana Biver, 104. 
Santa Barbara, 110. 

Island, 90. 

Town, 112. 

Channel, 81. 

Mission, 18. 
Santa Catalina Island, 90. 
Santa Clara County, 133. 

Town, 138. 

Valley, 134. 

Old Mission, 18. 
Santa Cruz County, 124. 

Town, 125. 

Harbor, 84 

Island, 89. 

Euins, 130. 

Mountains, 126. 
Santa Inez — Town and Valley, IIL 

Mountains, 410, 413. 
Santa Lucia Mountains, 120. 
Santa Marguerita Valley, 115. 
Santa Kosa, 167. 

Santa Susana Moxintains, 104, 110, 413. 
Saw mills, 191, 199, 617. 
Saw factory, 615. 
Scott's Valley, 210. 
Sea Lion, 439. 
Seaton Mine, 233. 
Serra, Junipero, Father, 8, 23. 
Settlers— Early, 33, 35. 

American, 33. 

Eussian, 37, 80. 
Sheep, 371. 
Shrubs, 517. 
Sharks, 498. 



695 



Shasta Cotmty, 21C. 

MoTmt, 213, iSl. 

To-sra, 218. 
Sherman, Lieut. "Wm. T., 56b 
Ship Buiiaing, 6U. 
Shot Tower, 628. 
Sierra County, 228, 429. 

Madre ilotmtains, 103. 

XeTada Mountain-, 71, 73, lOi, US, 154, 
216, 221, 228, 396, 416. 

Buttes, 229. 

But:es Mine, 582. 
Silk Culture, 392. 

Cocoons, 394. 

I>i£ease of 'Wonns, 395. 
Silver, 538. 

Mountain, 258. 
Sirocco, 375. 
Sigler Valley, 186. 
Siskiyou County, 209. 
Sloat, Commodore J. D., 58. 
Sloughs, 310, 314. 
Sluice Bos, 533. 

TaiL 572. 
SmartiTiile, 302. 
Smith, Jedeaiah S., 42. 
Snipe, 471. 

Snow and Land Slides, 243. 
Soledad Mountains and Pass, 109. 
Solfatara, 214. 
Spence, David, 46. 
Spring YaUey 'Water Company, 144. 
Soap Plant, 520. 

Stone, 272. 

Factory, 623. 
Solano County, 22, 305. 
Sonoma County, 22, 165. 

City. 168. 
Sonora, 269. 
Sparrow, 466. 

Spanish dominion, overthrtrw of, lo. 
Sparks, J. J., 41. 
Sprague, Thomas, 44. 
Squirrel, 443. 
State Prison, 163. 
St. Fnmcis, Order of, 13. 
Stanislaus County, 319. 
State Mining and Agricoltaral College, 131 . 
Stockton, 31S. 
Steamship lines, 674. 

Pacific Afml Line, 675. 

CaUfomia, Oregon and Mexico, 676, 

Korth American, 676. 
Steamboat Spring?, 218. 
Steam Plough, 376. 



Steams, Abel, 41.- 

Stevenson, J. D. Arrival with CaL Vols., 54. 

St. Helena, Mt., 176, 1S3, 409. 

Stockton, 317. 

Commodore Eobert F., 53. 
Stoneware, 627. 
Sturgis, Capt. 'Wm., 35. 
Sturgeon, 497. 
Suisun City, 308. 
Sunol, Antonio M., 39. 
Sulphur Peak, 166. 

Deposits, 186, 297, 411. 
Surprise Valley, 211. 
SusanviUe, 223. 
Sutter, .John A., 48, 298. 

County, 29S. 
Stigar refineries, 608. 

Beet, -357. 

T. 

Table Mfrantarns, ^9, 267, 421. 

Tailings, 573. 

Tamalpais Mountain, 162, 409. 

Tanneries, 131, 613. 

Tea plant, 361. 

Tehama County, 28^ 

Tejon Valley, 109. 

Pass, 109. 

Fort, 117. 
Tehatchaypah Pass and Monniains, 118. 
Telegraph system, 677. 

aty, 265. 
Temecula, 93. 
Tamalpais Peak, 163. 
Temple, John, 41. 
Temescal Tin 2Gnes, 103, 414. 
Tides, 80. 

TSmbnctoo, 301, 302, 574. 
Tobacco, 360, 302. 
Tomales — Town of^ -162. 

Bay, 85. 
Top<^Taphy, 71, 92. 
Treasure, esports o^ 665. 
Trinidad^— Town and Harbor, 87, 20r. 
Trrnity Kiver, 208. 

County, 202. 
Trout, 494. 

Tnoltmine Cotmty, 267. 
Tulare County, 326. 

Lake, 323, 326. 

Valley, 40. 
Tule landi, 310, 314, 327, 323. 
Tunnel mining, 539. 
Turpentine and Bosin, 294 C42. 



r 



696 

Tuscan (Lick) Springs, 201. 
ryndall, Mount, 328. 
rype Foundry, G37. 



Okiali City, 195. 
Uncle Sam Mountain, 184. 
Union Copper Mine, 423. 
Foundry, 612. 

V. 

Vaeaville, 308. 

Vallejo, Gen. Mariana Guadalupe, 40. 

Town of, 79, 307. 
Valleys— Sacramento, 72, 416. 
San Joaquin, 72, 75, 116. 
Sonoma, 75, 165, 170. 
Napa, 75, 177, 178. 
Petaluma, 75, 165. 
Berreyesa, 75, 176. 
Suisun, 75. 
Vaca, 75. 
Clear Lake, 75. 
.taiador, 75, 146, 149. 
San Eamon, 65, 155. 

Santa Clara, 75. 
Pajaro, 75, 122. 

Salinas, 116, 121. 

San Bernardino, 102. 

Holcombe, 103. 

Santa Inez, 111. 

San Luis Obi=po, 115. 

Santa Marguerita, 115, 

San Lorenzo, 126. 

Clara, 134. 

Livermore, 146, 149. 

Castro, 146. 

Morago, 146. 

Monte Diablo, 155. 

Pacheco, 155. 

Santa Eosa, 165, 167. 

Eus-ian Eiver, 165. 

Surprise, 210, 211. 

Bigler, 196. 

Big, 185. 

Little Lake, 193. 

Mad Eiver, 198. 

Eel Eiver, 198. 

Mattole, 200. 

Shasta, 210, 215. 

■^Tj„ Scott, 210, 215. 

Inii5--<j1ian, 225. 

Mohawii.^j!;;, 225. 

Genesee, lii^^iQ^ 



"Valleys— Eound, 225. 

Sierra, 225, 230. 

lone, 252. 

Owens,' 284. 

Yosemite, 276, 432. 
Venegas 4. 
Vignes, Jean Luis, 46. 
VisaUa, 328. 
Viniculture, 387. 
Viscayno, Sebastian, 6, 23. 
Volcano, 252, 424. 
Von Eesenoff, Coxuit, 37. 
Vulture, 455. 

■w. 

Walker's Valley, 118. 

Wat=onville, 129. 

AVagons and carriages, manufacture of, G31. 

Warner, J. J., 42. 

AVeaverville, 203. 

West Point, 262. 

Whales, 447. 

White cement, 543. 

Sulphur Spring', 181. 
Whitney, Mount, 328, 432. 
Wilkes, Commodore, 67. 
Wilhamfon, Mount, 328. 
Wilmington, 106. 
Wine making, 391. 

Wine merchants of San Francisco, 3Da. 
Wild oats, 521. 
Wire rope works, 617. 
Woodland, 303. 
Woodpeckers, 449. 
Wood and willow ware, 636. 
Woolen mills, 602. 
Wyandotte, 295. 



Terba Buena, 524. 

Island, 615, 407. 
Yolo County, 303. 
Yosemite VaUey, 276, 432. 
You Bet, 236. 
Yount, George C, 42 
Yuba County, 299. 
Yucca Palm, 100. 
Yuma, Fort, 99. 



Zoology, 437. 
Zunniga, Gaspar de, G. 



LIST OF WORKS PUBLISHED BY 

H. H. BANCEOFT & COMPANY, 

BOOKSELLERS & STATIONERS, 

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
1868. 



Bancroft's Map of the Pacific States. 

Scale 24 miles to an incli. Size 62 by Gl inches. 
Engraved on copper. Compiled by William 
Heiiry Kniaht. Fourth edition, thoroughly re- 
vised, 186S." Mounted $10 00 

" Bancroft's Pocket Map of California, 
Nev.afla, Utah, and Arizona. (Southern half of 
I'aciae States.) Incase 2 00 

Bancroft's Pocket Map of Oregon, 
"Washington. Idaho, Montana, ftnd British 
Columbia. (Northern half of Pacific States.) In 
case 2 00 

Bancroft's Map of the Rocky Moun- 
tain States and the Pacific Coast. Mounted. . . . 2 00 
Incase 100 

Bancroft's Outline Map of the Pa- 
cific states for Schools, with Key. Mounted. . . 6 75 

Bancroft's Map of Seventy Miles 
Around San Francisco 50 

Bancroft's Mercantile Map of San 
Francisco, with Business Locations and Street 
Numbers. Mounted 10 00 

Bancroft's Diary, containing Useful 

Memoranda and Tables lor Eeferencc pertaining 
to the Pacific States. Published annually. 
Price according to size and binding. 

Bancroft's Neiv Law and Form Book, 
for Business and Professional Men, and Public 
Ofiieers in the Pacific Stales. Third revised 

edition. 8vo, sheep 7 50 

Cloth 6 00 

Bancroft's Ijibrarian Record Book, 
for Circulating and Private Libraries. 4to, flex. 1 50 

Bancroft's Teachers' Class Register, 
for studies and Deportment. 4to, flexible 75 

Belknap (D. P.) Probate Laws and 

Practice of California, with forms. Eevised 
edition. 8vo, sheep 7 50 

Burges.s (Hubert) System of Pen- 
manship, in eight numbers. Perset. 150 

Cronise (Titus Fey), The Natural 
Wealth of Oalilornia: the History, Scenery, 
Climate, Mineral Resources, Agricultural Pro- 
ducts, Indnsti-ial Pi'ogress, Conimercial Advan- 
tages, and Future Prospects of the State. Im- 
perial Svo, doth 6 60 

Clarke (Charles Russell), New Pri- 
mary Geography. Small 4to 

Clarke's New Intermediate Geog- 
raphy. Medium 4to 

Clarke's New School Geography. 
Prepared for Use in the Schools of the Pacific 
States. Large 4to 



Clarke's Descriptive Atlas of the 

Pacific States; with numerous Maps, engraved 
expressly for this work, illustrating, with the 
text, the Geiisraphy of the World at large, but 
more especially the Pacific Domain and liocky 
Mountain Hegiou of the United States. Itoyal 
4to, cloth $8 09 

Congdon's Mining Laws and Forms. 
Fourth Eevised edition, 12ma, flexible 2 B» 

Fowler (Laura T.) Manual of Oral 
In.'^trnction for Teachers and Pupils in Graded 
Schools. Small 4to 76 

Hent (R. W.) Forms and Use of 
Blanks: being over 1,000 Forms in ordinary 
Business and Le^al Transactions, with Eemarks. 
2 vols., Svo, sheep 15 09 

Hittell (John S.) Bancroft's Hand- 
Book of Mining iu the Pacific States, lljmo 6 SO 

Hittell (John S.) Yosemitei Its 
Wonders and its Beauties, with 20 Photographs 
by Helios, and a map. 16mo B 80 

HitteU (Theodore H.) The General 
Laws of California. Second edition, revised, 2 
vols, in one. Koyal Svo, sheep 15 00 

Hyatt (T. Hart), Grape Culture and 
Wine Making in California. I2mo, cloth C^Z 00 

Labatt (H. J.) Digest of California 
Eeports. Koyal Svo, sheep 17 60 

Marsh (Andrew J.) Manual of Re- 
formed Phonetic Short-Hand. 16mo 

Parker (Charles H.) The Civil Practice 
Act of California, with Kotes and Eeferences. 
Kew edition, revised. Svo, law sheep 10 00 

Provost (Louis), Silk Culture in 
California. 12mo 4 00 

Swett (John), Common School Read- 
ings, and Elocutionary Kxercises. 12mo, cloth. 160 

Tuthill (Franklin), History of Cali- 
fornia, from the Earliest Eecords to the yetir 

lSli4. Svo, sheep B 80 

Cloth 460 

Catalogues Published by Bancroft 

and Company, descriptive of the various Depart- 
ments of their Book and Stationery Business. 

I. — Miscellaneous Bonks. 
II.— Scientific Books, 58 pages. 
Ill,— School Books, 23 pages. 
IV.— Law Books. 16 pages, 
v.— Medical Books, 19 pages. 
VI.— Eeligious Books. 45 pages. 
VII.— Subscription Works. 
VIlI.—Blanks. 19 pages. 
IX. — Stationery. 106 pases. 
X. — Bancroft's Publications. 



PERIODICALS PUBLISHED BY BANCROPT & COMPANY. 



The Occident ; A Religious. Literary, 

Educational, and Family Newspaper. Published weekly 
Edited by Rev. James Eells, 
.worth. 

Pacific Medical and Surgical Journal. 

Published monthly at $5.00 a year in advance. FditRd by 
Henry Oibbiiis, M. D., and Henry Gibbins, Jr., M. D. 



Putnam's Monthly Magazine of Litera- 
ture, Science, Art, and National Interests. Bancroft* Co. 
are exclusive Publishers for the Pacific Coast. Terma, 
$4.00 a year in advance. 

The American Law Review. Published 

Quarterly at $5.00 a year in advance. Bancroft & Co. are 
sole Agents for the Pacific States. 



H. H. BANCROFT & COMPANY, 

PUBLISHERS, MAFUFACTUREES, AND IMPORTERS, 

AND ■WHOLESALE AND liETAIL DEALEES IN 

BOOKS AND STATIONERY, 

609 MONTGOMERY ST., AND 607-617 JMERCHANT ST., 

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 



Messrs. Bancroft & Company ofter the most extensive stock and complete 
assortment of goods in every brancli of the Book and Stationery Trade, to be found 
in one business house on the globe. The business is divided into Ten Depart- 
ments, each under the charge of a competent manager, and for each of which a 
Catalogue is published, as follows : — 



L MiSOEliLANEODS Books, comprising His- 
tory, Biography, Travels, Poetry, 
Romance, &c. a large and well assort- 
ed stock always ou hand. 

II. SciENTiFio Books, conveniently classi- 
fied in 13 divisions and subdivisions, 
comprising Military and Naval Archi- 
tecture, Chemistry, Practical Arts, 
Civil Engineering, Astronomy, Geog- 
raphy, Geology, Mining, Natural His- 
tory, Botany, Agriculture, Cyclopedias, 
&c. Catalogue of 58 pages, 8vo. 

III. School Books. All the School Books 

used ou the Pacific Coast, together 
with Globes, Charts, and School Appa- 
ratus. Publish Clarke's Series of 
Geographies. 

IV. Law Books. A large stock of Reports, 

Statutes, Digests, and Text-Books, 
always on hand. Publish the Califor- 
nia Law Books and others specially 
adapted to the Pacific Coast. Cata- 
logue of 1 6 pages. 

V. Medical Books. A large assortment of 
both American and English Books. A 



complete Catalogue, with an Index of 
Subjects. 
VI. Religious Books. Bibles, Prayer Books, 
Hymn Books, Sunday School Libraries, 
and a full assortment of Religious 
Literature. Catalogue of 45 pages. 

VII. Subscription "Works. Books, Maps, 
and Pictures, sold only by subscription, 
by Traveling Agents. Canvassers 
wanted all over the Coast. Good 
profits for industrious men. 

Vin. Blanks. Law, Commercial, and Mercan- 
tile Blanks. A classiQed Catalogue 
published. 
X. Stationery. Blank Books of every 
description, all kinds of Writing Papers, 
Envelopes, Inks, Printers' Material, 
and every thing in the Stationery line. 
Catalogue of 106 pages, 8vo. 
X. Publishikg Department. Bancroft's 
Publications include School Books, 
Law Books, Histories, Agricultural, 
Mining, and Statistical "Works, Maps 
and Guides, and other works pertain- 
ing to the Pacific Coast. 



Printing, ^ngraving, J^ithographing, and /Manufacturing, 
done to order in the best manner on short notice. 

Bancroft's Linen Hand-made Writing and Flat Papers, have attained a deserved 
popularity, and are in general use in Public Offices, Counting-Houses, &c., through- 
out the Pacific Coast. 



<'9, 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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